Strength:

One of my strengths is persistence. I always work hard to find solutions to any problems I have, which I can apply to this class.

Area of Growth:

I want to work on being more creative, because I often copy or take heavy inspiration from design ideas I see online or in examples.

Commitments:

taking consistent and quality photos to document my progress
being attentive and present in class
staying organized and not falling behind on any projects or documentation

PCB Ideation

These are my designs for the PCB. We are planning on making the planet and we will probably put LEDs in the ring or around the edge of the planet. We chose to do the planet because it is simple and relatively easy to make, while also looking good.

Collaborative PCB Design

I worked on this project with Gabo. We went with the planet design above for our circuit board, and we placed 6 LEDs around the outside of the planet in a parallel circuit. We also incorporated a switch, and I may add in some silkscreen elements later for the ring around the planet. Some things I will remember about printed circuit board design are how to use Fusion to create schematics, the elements needed for a functioning circuit board, and that all the LEDs and resistors need to be connected correctly in order to work.

Speaker Ideation

My top three designs are the rainbow with two pots of gold as the speakers, the UFO with an alien inside, and the cactus. These are my favorites because they are the most fun, creative, and unique of the designs that I came up with. They also do not seem too complicated to design and build.

Design Feedback

The design that most people liked the best was the cactus, but some people also said they liked the pot of gold and a few liked the UFO. The main thing a lot of people said was that the cactus would be a little complicated and I should figure out if I want to 3D print some of it or round the edges now.

Phase 2 Drawing

I think this design is a good way to meet my growth goals because it is really creative and not something I've seen done before, and it is also outside of my comfort zone.

This design challenges my current skill set because it is definitely going to involve 3D printing (probably a lot!), which I do not have a lot of experience with, and because its interesting shape and lack of straight sides/edges poses challenges in putting it together.

In-Progress Prototypes

In Progress Rhino Design

This is the design for my press-fit box, made on Rhino. I am going to make this out of wood, and 3D print the cactus, so I am designing the cactus on Grasshopper.

Press-fit box prototyope

This is my cardboard prototype of the press-fit box. I did my best to make the measurements accurate to my Rhino design.

This is one side of the cactus part of the prototype. I have also cut out the other side and I just need to glue them together.

Finished Breadboard + Working Bluetooth!

After prototyping, I better understand how everything on the circuit connects and functions, as well as how the bluetooth on my speaker is going to work.

One part that I knew nothing about was the inductor. There are four of them on my circuit board and they look like long black beads. Google's AI says that their function is to "store energy and oppose changes in current flow in an electrical circuit."

Amp PCB and Schematic

Our Schematic

I worked with Asa on this project. One thing I learned was that you can put text onto a PCB board. I also gained a better understanding of what all the components on the board actually were and how they functioned.

Board Layout

Completed Collaborative PCB

PCB Pre-Soldering

The original idea for this project was to make a planet with LED's that lit up around the outside of the circle. I worked with Gabo on this project, and I am very happy with how it turned out!

Soldered PCB

Working correctly and lit up!

Un-Soldered Amp Circuit Board

Soldered + Completed Amp PCB

This is my completed amplifier PCB with speakers connected. I will try to take and upload a better picture soon.

Enclosure Progress

1. Hopefully, I will have my enclosure done by Thursday 12/19. I am on track to finish by then since the only thing I have left to do is attach the 3D printed part of my enclosure. The enclosure/body of my cactus is printing overnight in the electronics shop, so I will pick it up and put it together during lunch and after school on Thursday. Other than that, I have completed everything else, including my digital project.

Completed Speaker!

My main goal for this project was to make a speaker that was both functional and looked visually/asethetically pleasing.

I made a cactus speaker, with a planter box made out of wood and the actual cactus plant part made out of 3D printing filament and acrylic.

I am most satisfied with the way that I was able to pull my project together, mostly in the last few days of the course, although that wasn't really my ideal situation. I am also really happy that everything actually works and the sound quality is pretty good.

If I were to start over using my current knowledge, I would definitely use a website to design my press-fit wood box, because that was something that I was unaware existed until it was too late. My wood pieces fit together, but it took a lot of trial and error, laser cutting, and fixing my Rhino design, so everything would have been so much simpler if I had just used the website, input my desired measurements and only had to print once. I would also get my 3D printing out of the way earlier, because I didn't realize it was going to take so long.

I think the most valuable and long-lasting thing I learned this semester was how to troubleshoot various technical issues, especially in regard to the circuits we made this semester and all of the 3D modeling and physical aspects of the course. I had a lot of things go wrong this semester, so I had to do a ton of troubleshooting and figuring out what was wrong with things that weren't working correctly.