Final Post!

My goals for this speaker were to have good sound quality and a cool exterior! I ended up making a sort of planter box with sunflowers! I am most satisfied that the sound quality of my speakers is decent; I had some problems with staticky sound in the beginning so I'm glad it sounds better now! If I were to start over, I would've allotted my time better so that I wouldn't have to rush so much in the end. I soldered so so so much for this project so I bet I'll remember how to do that in the future!

Enclosure Build Process

Unfortunately I do not think I am on track to finish. I still have to assemble my entire piece and do my digital project. I am going to spend my afternoons working on it to the best of my ability! Update: I just have to assemble all the pieces now!

Soldered Circuit Board

Here's the saga. I started soldering my board. I realized my resistors were in the place of the inductors. I started on my backup board. I soldered everything into place. The audio didn't work. It was staticky and crunchy. Nothing worked to fix it. I soldered a new board, which was supposed to work. My speakers made no sound. The end?

Collaborative PCB!

I worked with Gaby and the idea of our collaborative PCB was to make a butterfly! We decided to add the LEDs to the tips of the wings in order to make it glittery/shiny. I am quite happy with how our PCB turned out: the lights look cool and the shape cut out well despite the thin parts (namely the antennae).

Unsoldered Circuit Board

AMPLIFIER PCB

This is the board that James and I designed! Working on the schematic by looking at my physical breadboard prototype really helped me better understand how schematics work and how to read them.

Breadboard prototype with bluetooth

Amplifier Breadboarding

Here is my amplifier breadboard prototype! I just finished the bluetooth section! In prototyping my circuit I tried to use a combination of schematics and images to build/check my board. I definitely have a better understanding of how to read the schematics than before. However, I still get pretty confused by some parts. For example, I don't quite understand what the regulator is for. According to Monolithic Power Systems, "A voltage regulator is a circuit that creates and maintains a fixed output voltage, irrespective of changes to the input voltage or load conditions." Essentially, I think this is saying that a regulator just controls the output of energy so as to keep too much energy from going through at once, regardless of the input?

Breadboard pre-bluetooth

Amplifier Prototype

This is my cardboard prototype! My design is a tall vase with two sunflowers peaking out. From my prototype, I learned that I need to have cutouts in some of my pieces (such as the top piece) in order for them to fit properly. I also learned that when prototyping, one must keep in mind that actual materials have thickness, unlike the cardboard. I need to modify my designs by cutting a notch in the top piece, cutting a hole for my microcontroller screen, and adjusting the size of the flower's outer layer center.

Amplifier Rendering!

Here are some photos of my Rhino model so far! The left one is set up sort of how it will be in real life, while the right is all flat. In this rendering, the yellow parts are acrylic, the grey parts are 3D printed, and the tan parts are wood. I still have a few details to do, like adding the holes in my box for the charging cord, button, and digital project! In class, I will measure those holes so that I can start making my cardboard model!

Amplifier Ideation p.2

This design is complicated, and definitely pushes me to try my best, even if it may not turn out perfectly. I would say that I'm not really mechanically/technologically inclined, so making a design that involves wood, metal, acrylic, and various techniques is definitely a challenge.

Post-It Feedback!

I'm so glad that I got some feedback on my sunflower-in-a-pot design specifically! Many people commented wondering about how I would support the heavy weight of the speakers and flower cases with only the stems, which is something I definitely need to think about. I think I'm leaning towards the sunflowers-in-a-pot design, so I will definitely make good use of all the comments.

Amplifier Ideation

My favorite three designs are #1, #2, and #10. I love how simple #1 is, but also how cute and "me" it feels! #2 is sort of similar to #1, with its incorporation of flowers. I really like how with design #2, I can incorporate the black speakers to be the center of the sunflowers! #3 is the twin sister of sorts to my lamp from D & T and incorporates my love of rain :)

PCB Board Layout

I worked with Gaby, and this is our design! It's going to be a purple butterfly board with white LEDs along the wings. I'm pretty happy with how the design turned out :)

PCB Schematic

One thing I'll remember about making a printed circuit board design is DON'T HAVE TOO MANY CURVES! Our butterfly has scalloped edges on the wings, and that made Fusion glitch over and over every time we made small changes. Another thing I'll remember is that when in doubt, make your schematic really simple and build from there, because otherwise it gets sort of overwhelming!

PCB Ideation

These are the 6 designs that Gaby and I made!

#1: the butterfly

#2: the Christmas tree

#3: the flower

#4: the boba

#5: the tiger

#6: the owl

We have decided to pick design #1: the butterfly. Our butterfly will be made of purple acrylic, with 12 white LEDs, a switch on the abdomen, and the battery on the back! We have begun to design our breadboard in Rhino and planned the schematics in Fusion :)

Lucy Sun

A design/engineering strength and area for growth

A design/engineering strength of mine is that I'm extremely detail oriented which helps me craft with precision :)

At least three things I want to commit to in the documentation of my learning and projects

I want to commit to:

not being afraid to make mistakes or post failed/messed up steps
keeping my documentation organized and clear
taking and uploading good photos of my progress!

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