Nola Evans

Hello Post! 1/7/25

A design/engineering strength I have is collaborating with others. I like working with my classmates on projects or activities and I feel like I can apply their ideas while still fostering my own.

A design/engineering area for growth is patience, especially when a deadline is approaching. I tend to want to just finish sometimes and I want to work on paying attention to detail and making anything I'm working on the best it can be.

3 Documentation Commitments

I commit to taking good photos with good lighting, orientation, and positioning
I commit to taking several progress pictures
I commit to writing clear descriptions

PCB Ideation 1/23/25

Coleton and I chose the UFO for our printed circuit board. We were initially just going to put LED's on the rim of the ship but decided to add the LED's to the abducting component. The other ideas were good but the UFO grabbed our attention the most.

PCB Schematic and Layout 1/30/25

Coleton and I made a UFO design for our printed circuit board, and the LED's for the abducting part are going to be white while the LED's on the rim of the ship are going to be yellow. Something I will take away from the PCB design process is how to use Fusion and how to create a schematic in general. I will also remember to create the easiest electrical path possible when designing something.

Speaker Design Ideation 2/4/25

Speaker Design Feedback 2/6/25

It seemed like people really liked the grandfather clock idea and said they liked the contrast between a vintage object with the more modern speakers. Some said it would take a while but I think I wouldn't do too much detail on the top or bottom parts. My classmates thought the infinity symbol was good but would be hard to figure out where to put the buttons and battery in.

Phase 2 Speaker Design 2/10/25

I think this is going to be good design to meet my goals because it will test my patience in terms of making sure a step is complete and reliable before I go to the next. If I don't, I could set back my progress which is something I don't want to do. I think I'm challenging my current skill set by bringing in a design from the internet and having slightly more intricate designs at the top and bottom of the grandfather clock.

3D Model Speaker 2/27/25

Here's my 3D model of my speaker. It's going well so far; I'm going to make a press fit box with decorations on the ends and power/volume buttons on top. Clear acrylic is going to go over the holes for the speaker to make it look kind of like a window. I left a space for the digital project at the top of the design. I still need to make a slot and space to see the charge of the battery and be able to turn it on.

Speaker Prototype 3/7/25

This is my cardboard prototype of my grandfather clock speaker. I think so far I don't need to make many modifications besides maybe some placing of things.

Speaker Breadboarding 3/17/25

This is the breadboarding for my speaker and the bluetooth component is there as well. I better understand how the parts connect and to pay attention to detail in terms of what rows corresponding parts should be on.

A part I didn't understand the function of was the 3.3 voltage regulator. It makes it so the bluetooth can use the right amount of voltage it needs.

Amplifier PCB Design

I worked with Gabe to design the amplifier printed circuit board. We kept most of the components the same except we added a moon graphic in the bottom right corner of the circuit board. Something I learned about the circuit board is to not rearrange parts too much or else the electronics could get messed up. I also learned how to scale images in Fusion and that you can have multiple VINs.

Digital Project Work 4/7/25

For today's work with the microcontroller, I focused on connecting to WiFi and putting a muni bus schedule on the screen. A challenge I ran into was trying to add the arrival times of the next couple of buses which would not show up. I did not get a chance to fix this, but I think I would have to add an "if" conditional statement or a "while true" loop.

https://gist.github.com/NolaEvans/e2a0af00a2da447aa1f7c60fdb1e4a8c

Unsoldered Amplifier PCB 4/22/25

First Completed PCB 4/30/25

I worked with Coleton to make a UFO for the first printed circuit board project in the beginning of the semester. Our idea was to design a UFO with yellow LED's on the rim of the ship and white LED's at the bottom part so it would seem like the UFO was abucting something or someone. I am very happy with the product.

Soldered Amplifier Circuit 5/12/25

I am doing okay with progress for my speaker. Soldering the amp circuit took more build days than I thought so the enclosure process will take longer. I started laser cutting and I need to finish a few other wood parts, acrylic, and some decorative elements.

Enclosure Building Process 5/19/25

I am progressing well in my encloure design process. I have finished laser cutting the wood and acrylic components of my projectI need to create the 3D printed buttons for the power, volume, and make sure there is access to the battery from the outside. I also need to vinyl cut a few decorative pieces, glue the acrylic onto the wood, secure the speakers in their spots, glue the enclosure together, and add my digital project.

Final Digital Project 5/31/25

https://gist.github.com/NolaEvans/b515d022f84955b7eac5d2ba4b9e1e29

My digital project displays the next three bus arrivals for the 23 and 24 Muni lines at certain stops. During this process, I learned how to set up my code so that two WiFi's are connected and so two buses are shown. However, it was difficult to figure out which parts of the code to change at first.

Final Amplifier Documentation 6/2/25

My goal for this project was to create an amplifier that resembled a grandfather clock. I mostly achieved my goal, though I feel like it could look more like it if I added a few decorative pieces and a pendulum aspect. The clear acrylic represents the windows and the speakers represent the clock and bottom of the pendulum, respectfully. There are volume and power controls on the back. My digital project at the top displays when the next three buses come for certain Muni routes.

I am most satisfied with the sound clarity of my speaker and the good soldering that made it possible. I am also satisfied with having it finished, working, and looking pretty good.

If I were to start over, I would definitely add some more gold decorative pieces and the stems of the pendulum. I might also make the would a deeper brown as well. I would also make sure I have every little detail planned out before I started laser cutting pieces because I could have a charging opening and run into fewer problems in general during the process.

Something I learned from this semester that I will continue to hold is the amount of diligence, precision, and patience it takes to complete a project like this.

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