Week 2 Journal

Ideation

Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)

Assignment:

This week's assignment is to make our own design of a simple mobile holder on Fusion 360 software and prepare it for laser cutting.


Inspiration:

I needed a phone holder that holds and gathers all my stuff (i.e. phone, keys, tasbeeh counter, watches, accessories, etc.)

I browsed google.com and 3axis.co website for laser cutting free vector models to form an idea. I came across these designs while browsing and I liked their minimalistic and functional design. Besides, I'd prefer to position my phone at different angles depending on whether I'm viewing it in portrait or landscape modes, and these designs served that purpose.
Besides that, I tended to change the basic normal design into a design that represents me and the items I like.

Tool Chain

Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?

Software:

We'll be using Fusion 360. in working this week, we'll be focusing on designing and creating the phone holder's parts of on Fusion 360.

first we'll create a 2D sketch of each part of the phone holder then we'll extrude these sketches into 2.5D parts so we can assemble them to form the final product.

Machines:

Laser cutting machine for the fabrication process.


Material:

  • A Plywood sheet

  • M3 screws and nuts




Design Process

Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?

As I mentioned before, I used some websites to get inspired with a design that can gather all my stuff and represents me and the items I like, so I chose the Cactus design. Then I used my pencil and paper to sketch a rough design, After that, I used Fusion 360 software to turn my rough sketch into a *fully defined dimensional 2D sketch.

*A fully defined sketch is one where all the dimensions are specified from a certain point or fixed-line so that your lines don't accidentally move while you're working. To indicate that a line is defined, Fusion 360 will change its color into black. Our instructor pointed out that an easy way to make sure your sketches are fully defined is to start sketching from the origin point of the plane since Fusion 360 already has this point defined and fixed.

After the sketch is finished its area should turn blue Which indicates the area is closed. If it doesn't, while in sketch mode, make sure all the points are connected.

It's easier to start sketching the parts that you need to use frequently in the design so that you can copy and move them to where you need. In this case, T-slots are a frequent part that's why I started sketching them first. Since we will be using M3 screws and nuts, the specifications shown in the screenshot are those of M3 x8 mm screws and M3 Ø6 mm nuts.

I struggled to make the Spline fully defined, so I was told to set a measurement for all the handles, and it turned into a blue line after I did that.

Also to fix all points.

  • after that, I extruded it into 2.5D and assembled it.

I draw the base part and extruded it, using "3D sketch preference" I made the T-slots where the main parts will rest, After that, I assembled all the parts together with rigid joints, and I checked that the T-slots and the screws circles are identical and matched each other.

Finally, I changed the appearance of the phone holder using the appearance panel and I chose the material I want then I drag it into the bodies

Preparing Process

I exported the design as a (.dxf) file then imported it into RDWorks software, I start nesting it and set my preferences, then saved it as Ufile for the laser cutting fabrication.

  • Cut:

Color: Black Speed: 10 mm/s Power: 65%

  • Engrave:

Color: Red Speed: 200 mm/s Power: 50%

fabrication Process

Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?

Using the machine was quite easy as we learned how to use it in the Week 1 assignment, but I had some problems in the fabrication process with the software (I will mention them), so far the fabrication process was done then I assembled the parts together with screws.


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Overcoming Challenges

When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?

THIS WEEK WAS FULL OF STRUGGLES AND CHALLENGES!

  1. As I mentioned that I had troubles with making the splines fully defined, so I turned to the instructor to ask for help and he told me to make the point fixed and to set measurement for each point from the origin point, and one of my peers also told me to set measurement for the point handles as will, And IT WORKS YAAAY!

2. While preparing the file for the laser cutting process, while I imported the (.dxf) file into RD Works, the two main cactus parts appeared like that although I was fixing the point in Fusion 360 software, my instructor told me to create a projection sketch for both parts and try to export them as (.dxf) file then imported them into RD Works, I did it and it also didn't work :(, So he suggested another way which was to download a plugin which solves this problem.

3. On the first fabrication try, I didn't have any problems with the machine but some design and preparing mistakes appears that I had to re-do again.

On the second try, I had trouble I didn't know where it came from, Was it from the machine or the software? the machine didn't cut out the parts, although I set the parameters correctly, and try the parameters in small squares first and it was correct, but when it came to the main parts it failed.

SOME MISTAKES I MADE!

designing mistakes

  • I forgot to leave a space in the basement part for "the stuck parts which hold the shelf" so, when I assembled the parts it didn't fix, So I had to re-design this part again. Also, I forgot to draw the screw's circle in the basement part.

  • The engraved hole in the second shelf was smaller than the phone's width so I re-designed it again.

Preparing mistakes

  • In the "LEMONADA" preference I forgot to set it as "SCAN" although I set the engrave parameters correctly, So the machine took this order as "cut speed" and it wasn't engraved

  • Also, I forgot to set parameters for the engraved in the shelf so it was cut out.

Fabrication mistakes

  • When the machine didn't cut out the re-designed parts, I moved out the sheet to see if it was cut or not, it was a mistake because it causes the machine to lose the origin point. if I didn't move it, I could re-order the cutting process again to the machine and it will cut in the same place and it causes a whole sheet destroyed.

Community of Learning

Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?

Our instructor was always helpful, Eng. Sherif helped me a lot with the spline problem, and he suggested the projection sketch solution, also helped me with downloading the plugin.

Thanks to my helpfull group-mate and peers:

Hussein Elkhodary he suggested the idea of setting parameters for the handles and it works well.

Merit Ashraf helped me with re-designing the basement part and with assembling the last parts to the holder.

Amr Abu Zaid offered me help in the fabrication trouble, although he was busy printing his pen holder model.

The Fab-Lab specialist helped me a lot in the fabrication trouble, and guided me while setting the parameters and adviced me to try in small squares first.

Final Project

How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?

The aim of this assignment covers some important points:

  1. Being able to form initial ideas about your design and translate them into a viewable model.

  2. Exploring and utilizing Fusion 360's features to make fully defined sketches of your prototype.

  3. Understanding the concepts related to assembly of 2.5D parts of an object.

WOW!

What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?

somethings that I will never forget from this week:

  1. Always check well the parameters before fabrication.

  2. Never move the sheet if a cutting failure happened!.

Weekly Digest

Tell us about any other cool things that you've made this week: in the Hands-on activity, tutorial examples, exercises, or any other cool mini-project that you tried out aside from the assignment.

We started the week with the Hans-ON activity, we were asked to create a low-fidelity cardboard phone holder prototype.

After that the instructor discussed each one's prototype and how could we improve the design better.

In the Midweek session, we were asked to sketch a Fidget Spinner using Fusion 360's 2D sketching tools. So we were divided into groups of two, one is the navigator and the other is the driver.

I and Mohammed Ghazaly were in a group, I was the driver and Ghazaly was the navigator and he guided me through the sketching process.

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In the EOweek session, we were divided into groups of three, to make a sample for a Miniature Rocking Chair model.

I, Hussien, and Rawan were in a group, we distributed the chair's three parts sketches between us to draw them in Fusion 360, then we assembled them and finally we prepare the parts for laser cutting fabrication using RDWorks software. After the fabrication process finished we assembled the parts with screws.

Assignment Design Files