Siena Weisman A&D 2023

Hello Post :)

Design/Engineering Strength: I’d say one of my strengths with design is my ability to see the big picture, and be able to zoom out a little throughout the design process and think about the possible problems with different designs. I love being super creative, especially in the shops, but I am also a pretty realistic thinker so I think I am able to find a good balance between what is realistically possible to create, and super creative projects.

Design/Engineering Growth: It's been a little while since I worked in the shops so I think a growth for me will just be to remain patient with myself throughout the process, because it might take me a little while to relearn how to use different software and machines.

Three Commitments: Three commitments I have for this semester are 1) to remain calm with myself and others, especially when we inevitably get stuck or frustrated 2) lift others up and keep the energy super positive, and 3) ask for help when I need, because sometimes I tend to don't enjoy asking others for assistance, but I know that it is a necessary step towards building community and ultimatly being successful.

PCB Exploring! - 8/28/2023

In class today we learned how to use different aspects of Eagle in order to design PCBs. We learned how to draw series circuits and design them into PCBs as well as how to upload them so they'll be ready to be ordered. Additionally, we learned how to make these shapes in Eagle (although we can also make designs in Rhino for more creative pieces).

PCB Design Ideas - 8/30/2023

For homework I created 6 possible ideas for PCBs. My favorite right now would probably be the snake or the peace sign

PCB Design Project - 9/6/2023

Greta and I designed our PCB as a Christmas tree because we thought it would be super cute with all of the LEDs. Our final PCB design has eleven LEDs and eleven resistors. We created a parallel circuit so that all of our LEDs will shine as bright as possible!

Above is our circuit schematic in its basic form. One specific thing I'll remember about printed circuit board design is how to autoroute, because autorouting is so helpful in designing PCBs as it cuts down your workload and time.

Speaker Ideation - 9/8/2023

In class we participated in an activity which gave us a variety of prompts to help us create different speaker ideas. The middle image is a photo of all the ideas I cam up with in class. Among the 12 I drew, there were three that stood out to me most. On the left is an enlarged drawing of the juice box speaker I cam up with. I'm not sure how I feel about how the two speakers looks like, but it's still pretty cool. On the bottom right is supposed to be an avocado. I think this design would be so cute, but with two speakers it just looks super funny, so if I want to move forward with this one, I'd have to figure out a way to redesign this. Finally, in the top right had corner is my current front runner. It is a more simplictic curved box with a moasic acrylic pattern. With this speaker my goal would be to find scraps of a variety of different colors to create the mosaic.

Design Feedback - 9/12/2023

These are all of my post-it note feedbacks from class after I shared my speakers designs. Most of the positive feedback I received was on how creative my designs were. Many people really liked the juice box and avocado designs. For cool feedback many students talked about the possible challenges for the curves in my design.

Speaker Design Documentation

To the right is photo of the detailed drawing with my speaker design. I want a simple and traditional box design with a cool spaced mosaic with a translucent blue acrylic to have an almost glowing effect.

Amplifier Design Feedback - 9/27/2023

So far I've begun sautering my PCB and have almost completed my speaker design in rhino. I finished creating my box structure for my speaker but I need to draw my acrylic design in rhino still.
I already simplified my speaker structure (from rounded to rectangular) so I don't think I need to simplify anything else.
As of right now, I believe that everything should work because its all pretty simple shaped put together.

Enclosure Design Documentation - 9/27/2023

I am making a rectangular box speaker with a cool translucent blue mosaic design on top. My speaker takes up two pieces of wood, so unfortunately I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to make the moasic, but I'm hoping there will be enough scraps of material from other people.

Prototype Documentation - 10/13/2023

This is what I was able to make of my speaker prototype. In desgining my prototype I thought that I could simply copy a trace of one of the sides 4 times and that that would work for building my prototype, but once I printed, I realized that that is't the case. Instead I have to trace each individual side. So, in doing this I have learned that I need to pay attention to how I build each side. Luckily, I made a 3-D model of my speaker in Rhino, so I know that I have the correct parts modeled, I just need to make sure to translate those correctly to what I laser cut. I also learned that the little holes around my speaker hole are too far apart, so I need to go back and remeasure those to make sure my screws will work. I also am realizing that I need to make sure that the back is still detattchable in case something in the future needs to be fixed. Some questions I have are:

Do I need a gap in a side for any cords or anything? I remember that for my speaker we needed to include that.
Do I need to allow for more air flow? I kind of remember that being mentioned, but I'm not sure.

Bluetooth Connection Documentation - 10/13/2023

I got my speakers to work and was also successful in creating my bluetooth connection! I had some troubles with my initial circuit, but Mr. Kleindolf helped me and we were able to get it working! Then I helped Emmie with hers, and we built our bluetooth connections!

PCB Documentation - 10/23/23

Here is the screenshot of mine and MJ's collaborative PCB. We worked together throughout this assignment, with each of us contributing in different ways. We both connected about half of the pieces, and helped check over the connections together. We then went through the wiring process together and collectively chose the color red for our PCB.

Python Intro Activities- 10/27/2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xNbfiBegCEI9cy9hhgFkR0UjPNsa_vZiFYjJTMwGjqE/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z4AD1qqdVMnwC4cRxenG4G2cfRjV2A1HRbY-q8G3ZFs/edit?usp=sharing

Microcontroller Challenege Documentation - 11/13/2023

The challenege I chose to explore with my microcontroller was the bluetooth light pixel challenge. For this challenege I had to connect via bluetooth to my controller and program my controleld to respond to my phone's commands. Through folllowing the tutorial I was able to successfully complete it!

Digital Project Description - 11/15/2023

For my digital project, I've decided to add the bluetooth light color controller so I can change the color of my LED whenever I'd like to.

AMP PCB Documentation

Bellow are three photos, one of my unsoldered amp PCB, and two of my completely soldered amp PCB

Lit PCB Project Documentation

Here is a picture of my completely soldered Christmas Tree PCB with Greta

Digital Project Documentation

For my digital project I used the playground neopixels and made them a burt sienna color :)

Amplifier Build WIP - 12/14/2023

Here is an update of my speaker so far! I have completed the construction of my speaker except for the final touches. I still need to glue down the acrylic mosaic that I cut in class today :)

Amp Project Documentation - 12/20/2023

What did you make?

For my speaker I created a simplistic box with a cracked mosaic.

Description of Goals:

My goal with this project was to become more confident with the laser cutters and with soltering (both of which I think I acomplished!).

Thinking about the work you created, what are you most satisfied with this semester?

I am most proud of analog component and the soldering I did. I worked really hard on it so I'm really satisfied with how it came out.

If you were to start over, knowing what you know, what would you do differently?

I would add hinges to one of my sides in order to have an easier access to the interior of my speaker, but otherwise I think I followed through with everything I had planned and it all came out the way I hoped.

What is a lesson from this class that you will take with you and use in future projects?

Simplicity is best. No matter what, projects like these always end up taking longer than expected and you always have challeneges that pop up, so that simpler your design, the better sometimes.

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