Presentation

Note: This simply a shortened version of my Final Project page that highlights the main points of the project

Planning the Project

I decided I was going to make a Captain America shield for my final project. He's my favorite superhero, and shields on the market are extremely expensive, so why not make one of my own?

My first idea wasn't enough work to go through the whole month we had to work. So I decided I was going to add lights to the shield. Here is the sketch I made for the LEDs. I was planning on drilling five holes, and inserting LEDs into the holes so they would stick out the front.

This was what I made. Three of the four edges would fit into the cut I made. I had to shrink down the width of the extruding sides, but it worked!

Machine One: Shopbot

To create the main shield shape, I cut out a large circle in the Shopbot, and added four rectangles, which would eventually hold the straps. I planned it out on paper the day before, then made it in VCarve, and cut it out.

Machine Two: 3D Printer

As talked about before, I 3D printed four strap mounts to hold down the straps. To secure the straps, I drilled two holes into each one, and screwed them down on top of the strap. This is all the 3D printing I did for the project.

Machine Three: Laser Cutter

Originally, I had only planned on using the Laser Cutter to engrave the design onto the wood, but it didn't show up that well.

After the engraving, I also made a box to hold the switch for the electrical circuits, and cut out the star I used to make the design stand out.

Building the Shield

Using a leather belt, the mounts, and a few screws, I was able to attach two straps to the back of the shield. They held up really well, even without any glue.

I used wood glue to add the star on the front.

LEDs and Circuitry

After I built the main parts of the shield, it was time for the lights. Instead of drilling into the shield to insert LEDs, I used LED strips. The wiring had 3 main components: The battery, the switch, and the lights. I soldered wires onto the ends of the switch, and connected the wires to the LED strips.

I also had to connect two strips together, because there wasn't enough to go around the full shield in one loop. To do this, I simply used two short wires. One connecting positive to positive, the other negative to negative.

After this, all that was left was gluing down the switch box and the wires, then securing the LEDs with glue, in case the adhesive ever wears down.

Here is my original sketch compared to the final result:

That was it! I think it turned out really well, and I'm glad I chose this as my project.