Brainpad AR-1 Gaming Device - CAD

Computer aided design is the process of using a computer to help you design a digital model. 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) is software that allows designer and engineers to model their designs digitally before manufacture. There can be many reasons for using 3D CAD.

Onshape is an example of 3D CAD and you can access it here www.onshape.com

Key Words:

CAD - Computer Aided Design

Sketch - A drawing

Constraints - limit or restrict

Duplicate - copy and paste

Fillet - and rounded edge

Shell - Make a shape hollow inside it

Modelling - the process of making a 3D model in real life or digitally

CAM - Computer Aided Manufacture

Spline -

Dimensions - measurements (sizes betwen lines)

Extrude - to stretch in order to make a 2D sketch become 3D

Brainpad AR-1 - a programmable computer chip

setting up Onshape accounts

Returning students will need to renew your subscription. Click the button to go to the Onshape Support page and follow the instructions to renew your account.

Onshape Support Page

If you are a new student then you will need to set up an Onshape account. Click the button to go to the onshape support page where there is a video that will show you how to set up your account.

Onshape Support Page

Stages of Modelling...

There are several steps required to complete the 3D model of your Brainpad AR-1 gaming device, follow each step carefully and in order. If you encounter a problem, ask your teacher for help. At the end of each lesson, make a note on your website of the step you were wo

1. Copy the basic file and share the file with your teacher

Brainpad AR-1 Onshape file

Click the button above to access the basic file.

Make sure that the file opens in a new tab.

Allow the workspace to load and then click the "make a copy to edit" button at the top of the workspace.

Change the document name to be your class code, your name and the word Brainpad AR-1,

e.g. 7D Mrs Douglas Brainpad AR-1

then press "create copy"

Press "share" in the top right of the workspace.

Type your teachers email into the email box and click share

kdouglas@rugbyschool.ac.th

cdouglas@rugbyschool.ac.th

gjones@rugbyschool.ac.th

The correct email should appear in the box. You can then press "close"

2. Add image of your design to Top face of the primitive

To help you sketch the shapes of your design idea, it can be helpful to import an image of the design work to sketch over the top. The following steps show you how to bring in an image that has been handed in on Google Classroom. You can also use other methods to access images of your work such as email the image to yourself or airdrop.

Open a new tab in your internet browser.

2. In the new tab open the google apps pannel and select drive.

3. Open the classroom folder.

4. Find your D&T class folder. Click the 3 dots next to the image of your design and select download.

5. The image should now be in the downloads in the Finder app on the computer you are using

6. Now return to Onshape and press the 'sketch' button.

7. Select the Top Face of the primitive. In the sketch menu it should say "face of primitive"

8. Select a top view angle. This will make it easier to insert and size the image. (N)

9. Click the drop down arrow next to the DXF button and select Insert image

10. In the control menu, click import.

11. You downloaded image file should be in the downloads or the recents folder.

12. The image will upload and then appear in the control menu. You can close the upload menu by clicking the X.

Select the image file and then draw a rectangle to place it ➡️

13. click in the top left and drag to the bottom right of the screen to place your Final Design image.

14. Select the straight line tool and make a line that is the height of your design. (look at the image carefully!)

15. Select the dimension tool. Click the line. Drag the mouse to the right. Click in the space. Enter 100mm into the size box.

16. Now move the image to fit within the primitive shape in the workspace.

17. In this 3D view we can see that the top view of the design is within the primitive border, not overlapping.

18. Now right click on the "Sketch 1" and select "rename"

19. Rename the sketch final design drawing.

3. Sketch, basic shape using the spline or Line tool * It Must be smaller than the primitive - not over the sides!

Select the sketch button to create a new sketch layer.

First hide the image sketch - you should have called it 'final design drawing'.

Then, click the top face of the blue block

It should now say 'face of primitive' in the sketch control menu

In the 3D view, your outline sketch should look like this but based on your own design.

Use the sketching tools at the top to trace your design. *NOTE - you can make the 'final design drawing' visible by pressing the eye icon to trace over it.

ERRORS TO AVOID

Zoom in and out to double check that you have sketched a closed shape - A closed shape is a shape where all lines meet and there are no gaps.

ERRORS TO AVOID

Tangling or knotting the line can happen when you adjust or distort your shape, especially when using the spline tool. Knotted lines will create many problems later so try not to do this or look out for them later.

ERRORS TO AVOID

You can use the Scissor tool to delete knotted lines or tails of left over lines. Choose the scissor tool and select parts of the line you want to delete or rebuild.

CORRECT LINE

After using the scissor tool and deleted the parts that are causeing the errors, it should look like this.

4. Extrude shape top view

Select the Extrude tool from the top menu bar.

Select the outer part of your sketch - the part you want to cut away. Once you select it successfully, it will highlight yellow but be sure to choose the option Remove from the side menu so that you actually remove the shape instead of adding a new 3D shape.

Check all angles so see that it has removed/extruded properly. There is nothing wrong with extruding/removing more than once if you have an unusual design with multiple parts.

5. Extrude shape using the "front view shaping" sketch

Find the front view shaping sketch and unhide it.

Select Extrude feature

Click the Front view sketching shape and the options shown in the feature menu.

Remove / Through all

6 Fillet shape

This shows a large fillet added to the underside of the model (80mm) to make the model smooth underneath.

This shows a small fillet added to the top and bottom edges of the model (4mm)

Select the fillet tool from the top menu bar.

In the fillet option box under the tab Edge, you will see Entities to fillet. In this section you will select all the edges of you design - mainly the top and bottom faces so that you have smooth rounded edges.

Be careful to only select the edge line and not the face or surface of the model. Once you select the edge, the fillet setting will round and smooth the edge. Adjust the setting so that the fillet edge is rounded to the size you want. 5mm or below usually works well for the top and bottom edges. It can be larger for the underneath. (see images above)

In this view you can see that the top edge on the top surface has already been filleted and the edge is now rounded and smooth. The next step will be to do the same on the bottom surface in the same way.

Error could be red lines showing when you are creating your fillet. this could be because your fillet it too large (reduce the size to fix this problem) or that you original sketch lines have an error such as a double /parallel line, a knot or entangled line or a small gap. To fix this you will need to re open your original sketch and check your lines and use the scissor tool to delete any error lines - see step 3

7. Shell shape to 2 mm and how to check it worked

To Shell your shape basically means to hollow you model. We need a hollow model because we will be inserting a Brainpad AR-1 inside. It also helps to cut down unnecessary or wasted material.

Select the Shell tool from the top menu bar, tick the Hollow option and under Parts to hollow, select Part one from you side menu on the lower left (or click the 3D model).

You should now edit the Shell thickness to be 2mm. If you have an error showing in red then you may reduce the thickness to something between 1.5mm-2mm (such as 1.7mm). No thicker than 2.5.

To check the shell

Click the small cube icon on the right of the worspace. In the dropdown menu select the section view option

In the section view menu click the front plane from the features menu to create a section view. That will show if the inside of your model in hollow. Once you have checked, press the red X to close the section view

If you have errors when shelling, first talk to your teacher. Most of the shelling issues happen because you have got a shape with lots of tight corners that you have created using the spline tool; your teacher will show you how to edit your sketch and remove some of the nodes and make your outline shape less complex. If after talking to your teacher you cannot find a solution, please share your Onshape file to Mrs Douglas - kdouglas@rugbyschool.ac.th and follow up with an email explaining the problem.

7A - Quality control. does your circuit board still fit inside your casing now that you have shelled it?

Make the 'Braiinpad AR-1 Photo Sketch visible.

Make sure that the circuit board fits inside the shelled body now that you have made it 2mm thick.

The circuit board should not be touching the inside edge of your controller.

8. Add decorative details, 0.5 to 1 mm only

This step allows you to add details, designs, grips and textures to the top surface.

Step 1. Either Create a new sketch and sketch on the top surface or use the details already sketched in your first sketch.

It is suggested to sketch your design as an extended shape where the lines and edges extend out passed your actual design. This will ensure that control points and sketch entities are not locked together. Make sure that you sketch closed shapes.

Step 2. Once your sketch design is complete you can extrude up.

Remember that you can extrude down with the remove tool because the thickness is now just 2mm thick after you you used the Shell tool.

You make extrude each shape or part of this decorative design but should do it separately which will mean you need to extrude more than one if you have multiple parts.

Step 3. make sure that when you extrude up you only extrude to a maximum height of 1mm. If you need more than this then speak to your teacher.

Step 4. You will now need to fillet each new edge to the new parts and surfaces that you have just extruded.

The examples above shows what the filleted edges will look like but as you can see, not all edges have been finished yet in this example.

This shows how to use details in the original sketch to add 1mm details to the surface.

This shows how to use details in the original sketch to remove 1mm details to the surface.

9. Add keychain detail

Select sketch

choose the "split plane"

Make sure you use the "Use" sketch tool to copy the shape of the design body

Draw your keychain hole shape

Here are some of the drawing tools that you may find useful to draw your keychain hole.

The elipse tool is in the menu under the circle tool. Your hole coud be rectangle or triangle - it does not have to be elipse like this example

Once the sketch is complete, press extrude

copy the options in the extrude menu. Make sure you tick the symmetric option

10. Split design into 2 halves and add a fillet of 0.5mm

First you will need to turn on the Split Plane from the side menu (scroll up and down to find it and turn it on by clicking the eyeball)

Second choose the Split tool from the top menu.

You now have 2 things to enter to the Split options box. Under Parts, surfaces, or curves to split you should add Part 1

Under the Entity to split with option, you should select Split Plane from the side menu or by clicking on the Split Plane on the model.

The Split Plane appears right in the middle of the model and creates a line all the way round indicating where the split is situated.

To confirm that the Split worked, you should now be able to see that on your parts menu on the lower left side menu, you now have Part 1 and Part 2. You can turn these on and off with the eyeball option. Turning on and off allows you to see each part seperately and you will now be able to see that your shape is hollow.

Now you can hide the split plane

The lower part (Part 1) should look like this.

The upper part (Part 2) should look like this.

On both Part 1 and Part 2 you will fillet the outer edge of the Split surface.

The fillet you choose for Part 1 and Part 2 should measure 0.5mm.

The outcome should look like this where a smooth edges join in the split surfaces can be seen

11. Make holes for the Brainpad AR-1 circuit board and fillet to 0.5mm

You will need to select the sketch called 'Holes for screen and buttons' it Is near the top of the feature menu.

Extrude the shapes using the Remove option to cut out the holes.

After you have Extruded the holes, you will need to Fillet each edge at 0.5mm

12. Rename the parts

To help with the next stages it is helpful to rename part 1 and part 2 to be bottom and top to match your model.

Right click on Part 1 and rename it.

In the image we can see that part 1 is highlighting in yellow and so should be called "Bottom Half"

Repeat for Part 1 and Part 2 to rename them to be Bottom half and top half

13. Make circuit board locating pins

To make the next features you are going to use pre-drawn sketches that are already in the feature menu (near the top). You will need to look carefully to find them.

Press extrude

Find the sketch called Circuit locating pins and select it to add it to the extrude menu. change the feature to be "up to next" and in the merge scope box select top half.

Check that the direction of the feature is pointing up towards the top half. (See the arrow in the image)

Press the green tick to confirm the feature

If you hide the bottom half and rotate the model, the pins should look like this image.

Now add a fillet of 0.5mm to the base of each pin. This makes them stronger.

Press extrude

Find the sketch called "Circuit locators" and select it to add it to the extrude menu. Change the feature to be "up to next" and in the merge scope box select "Bottom Half".

Check that the direction of the feature is pointing down towards the bottom half. (See the arrow in the image)

Press the green tick to confirm the feature

If you hide the top half and rotate the model, the locators should look like this image.

These locators push against the back of the AR-1 circuit board to hold it in place inside the casing.

14. Making lugs and bosses to join the case together

To make the lugs and bosses which are features that hold the two halves of the case together, we first need to move the folder called "Connecting pins" down to the bottom of the features menu. Follow the first two images carefully...

Select the "connecting pins" folder, click and drag it down the features list to the bottom

This is what it should look like ☝️

Double click the sketch called Lugs to edit it.

Make the sketch called "brainpad AR-1 Photo" visible so that you can see the position of the circuit board

Move the centre points of the lugs around to be between the shape of your design and the outside the edge of the circuit board (orange colour), using the photo as reference..

❌ INCORRECT

Incorrect because it crosses into the orange area

❌ INCORRECT

Incorrect because it crosses over the outline shape of the design

✅ CORRECT

*NOTE. If the Lugs will not fit in the space in your design then you will need to adapt your design shape by revisiting step 3!

Now the Lugs sketch is in the correct place, you will need to extrude each part of the lugs and bosses by following the steps below carefully...

Select extrude

Find the sketch called lugs and select it to add it to the extrude menu. change the feature to be "up to next" and in the merge scope box select top half.

Check that the direction of the feature is pointing up towards the top half. (See the arrow in the image)

Press the green tick to confirm the feature

These features are called lugs. They provide a space for pins to go inside of and hold the two halves of the casing together.

use the fillet tool to add a 0.5mm fillet to the base of the lugs

Select extrude

Find the sketch called Locator and select it to add it to the extrude menu. Change the feature to be "up to next" and in the merge scope box select Bottom half.

Check that the direction of the feature is pointing down towards the bottom half. (See the arrow in the image)

Press the green tick to confirm the feature

This will have created locators that meet the lugs indide the model. The next step is to add pins.

Select extrude

Find the sketch called pins and select it to add it to the extrude menu. change the feature to be "blind" and set the depth to 2.5mm. In the merge scope box select bottom half.

Check that the direction of the feature is pointing up towards the top half. (See the arrow in the image)

Press the green tick to confirm the feature