Week 1 - Journal

Ideation

Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What were you inspired by?

This week assignment was mainly to get familiar with fab lab space and some machines and the their operation process starting from preparing files till the end of the process (Laser Cutting and 3d printing machines) in addition to starting to get used to the assembly the parts of a product following the instructions given. (Game Kit Assembly) . All of this beside starting to sketch the idea for the final project.

Tool Chain

Which software/machines/materials did you use this week? Why?

For 3d Printing: PrusaSlicer software - Prusa i3 MK2S machine - PLA filament material

For laser cutting: Laserworks software -Laser cutting machine - Compressed wood material

Game kit components: power inlet and outlet - mother board - Arduino - sensor - cables - screws - nuts -screwdriver - LCD screen - Switch - wood planes

Design Process

Explain the design process of your assignment. How did you use the tool/software to design and/or simulate your assignment?

For 3d printing 2 files were downloaded: a Thingiverse model and a sample model, each one was imported in Prusaslicer, the model was scaled to reach the targeted time and size and the material was selected generic PLA and the printer settings was agjusted. then the model was sliced and a gcode file was exported.

For Laser cutting a dxf file was downloaded for the fablab logo and then imported in Laserworks software. The object was moved near the origin and then started to define the lines to cut and to scan and setting up the power of each.

For the Game kit assembly nothing but the construction manual was used.

Fabrication/Implementation Process

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

Laser cutting machine: all needed was to set the origin of the machine by using the arrows and the button of the origin and the downloading the file and the printing started, also we should make sure the machine glass door was closed for safety.

For the game kit the construction manual was followed.

3D printing machine: first the filament material (PLA) should be checked, from the menu list: unloaded and reloaded after heating, then preheating for the printing area should take place until it reached 215 degree and then the sd card of the machine was inserted in it after copying the file .gcode on it and the printing process started.

VID20210106163245.mp4
VID20210107204827.mp4
YouCut_20210107_211728887.mp4
VID20210106173544.mp4

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?

i didn't ask for feedback about the files i finished to get printed in the fab lab,that wasn't really good, if i did so i could save much time to finish my 3d printed object and avoid the mistakes happened through the printing process. some questions were shared in the fab lab during the laser cut process, we started to think and answer the moderator till we reached the answer to our question, and the question was: does Laseworks software reads surfaces black surface for example and how can it understand it and operate it (the question was about hatch from autocad files) and the answer from the moderator was that Laserworks only read lines from cad files. but for sure we should give it a try and try importing a dxf file with hatch and see what will happen in a practical way.

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 project?

actually i faced some problems in the 3d printing process: First: the object wasn't stable on the printer bed and i asked for help from the moderator in my slot: Ahmed and i really got it, the problem was the Brim box wasn't checked (which is responsible for making an outline surrounding the object on the bed) and the object was printed to bottom left corner of the printer bed (what made the object not stable due to less temperature on the edges of the bed). after checking these issues in the file are re slicing and exporting the gcode file for the second time the object became stable on the printer bed and the printing process continued.

Second: Actually i learned about printed objects that needs supporters that i didn't have any idea about before making the files. that type of objects was one of the 2 sample models i prepared and i obviously didn't print that file and i chose the other one that didn't need supporters (actually didn't need much)


problem.mp4

Final Project

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

Getting used to the process of laser cutting and 3d printing from the the very start of it (from getting files to finalizing the printing process) will obviously help me with my project that i'll necessarily need. also getting familiar with the fab lab itself made me more comfortable in the starting phase of the course that is really new to me. Also it was my first time to deal with electronic parts and electric cables, screens,..etc and making the assembly and that actually worked what made me understand some functions of these elements and the most important thing to me is that increased my confidence in my self from the start of the project.

WOW!

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

The coolest thing was the assembly of the game kit, it was really amazing for me as it is my first time dealing with these electronic and electric parts and i started to overcome my fear from dealing with such tools. the game itself was challenging and my family shared me playing and winning ;)