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A design/engineering strength of mine is perseverance and trying again when I don't do things right. An area of growth for me is anything to do with coding/computers or circuitry.
In my documentation of my projects, I want to commit to remembering to take progress photos in the steps I take, as I've often completed projects having only taken photos in the very beginning and very end, making it hard to see my process. I also want to commit to taking high-quality photos and having thorough, detailed explanations of what I've done.
PCB Ideation
The design we chose was a skull, with a battery on the cranium and LEDs in the eye sockets and chin. We chose it because we thought that it would look pretty cool.
Collaborative PCB Design
This is a printed circuit board in the shape of a skull that Evan and I created. It has a battery located on the back side of the cranium and LEDs in the eyes and on the chin, with resistors that almost take the shape of eyebrows and resistors in the teeth. There is also a switch below the battery that will turn the LEDs on and off. We also included a silkscreen layer design which will create the facial features. Something I will remember about printed circuit board is how overwhelmed I felt with working with Fusion and Rhino because I haven't used both in a long time/at all, but Evan helped me a lot to start to (re)learn these programs.
Speaker Ideation - Drawing Exercise
The first of my favorite designs is a shark with its mouth open, with the speaker inside the mouth. I like this one because I think it is cute.
My second favorite idea is an aquarium-themed transparent speaker. I like it because I thought it could be interesting to see all the components inside.
My third favorite idea is 2 katakana characters that both say "go", as in the syllable. I took this from the prompt to use letters in a design, and liked the way that they overlapped.
Speaker Design Feedback
From the feedback, it seems like I should go with the shark. My main area to focus on is just designing what the rest of the speaker will look like, behind the shark's face and front.
Phase 2 Design Drawing
I think that this could be a good design for my growth goals because the design will take a lot of work in Rhino, which is a computer program, to look good.
I am challenging my current skill set by using laser cutting for the acrylic, which I haven't done in a long time and never got used to doing; I am also challenging it by making a pretty curvy, organic shape for my design which will be hard to create in Rhino, which I am also not very good at.
Modeled Speaker Design
In this speaker design I have three layers. The front of the head is one. behind it is the mouth which the speaker comes out of and is connected to the body. The eyes are also on this layer. Behind this is the wooden box which holds the speaker. I still need to adjust it a little so that the box is long enough to touch the ground and also reach the mouth.
Speaker Cardboard Prototype
My idea is a shark made out of acrylic, with a wood box holding the speaker itself. I learned from this prototype that I need to make the wooden box taller, and I realized that that I need to put holes in the box for the speaker to go through. I also realized that the teeth will cover the screws for the speaker, so I will need to work around that. I was also surprised to see that my design is quite small.
Amp Circuit on Breadboard
I think I understand how the microcontroller works a bit more now after prototyping the circuit. I had no idea what the capacitors were for. According to Google, they are "widely used in electronic circuits for blocking direct current while allowing alternating current to pass."
Amp PCB Design and Schematic
I worked with Amalia for this project. During the process I learned that the little green dots on the schematic are very important, as they mark where the wires connect.
Digital Project Plan
My digital project will be an adjustible timer, with randomized messages popping up on screen when time runs out. I will use a Feather ESP32 microcontroller and a real-time clock. The project will be standalone.
Shaped PCB Project
The original idea of this PCB was a skull, like is shown here. I worked with Evan for this project. Overall, I am pretty happy with the product, but I think the LEDS on the chin look a little goofy.
Unsoldered Circuit Board
Soldered Amp Circuit
Enclosure Build Process
I am mostly on track to finish the project, but there is something going on with my circuit board that makes one of the speaker connectors not function. Fixing this is the last step before fully enclosing the speaker and finishing the project. However, I don't think I'll have enough time to complete the Digital Project.
Final Speaker
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