Week 6 | Motors

This week, I attached a motor to the enclosure without a purpose to give it a purpose. To do this, I found a DC motor from my Arduino kit from last year and I gathered the necessary materials, and purchased a 9v battery holder and screws from Tinkersphere. I used a cardboard cutout of the star from my first project; and assembled per the below steps;

1a. marked holes of base of wood enclosure

used a pointed object (sharp tweezers in this case) to make markers matching the battery holder below

1b. 9v battery holder

used to make markers in wood enclosure

2a. hand drill with 1/16” bit

drilled holes for brass wood screws

2b. drilled holes in markers

using hand drill with 1/16” bit

3a. brass wood screws

used to fasten 9v battery holder to wood enclosure

3b. 9v battery holder

fastened to wood enclosure

4. solder wires to switch and power source

5. solder power source to motor

6. locate location for motor

7. application of hot glue to stabilize star to motor

8. application of hot glue to stabilize motor to wooden enclosure

project, complete.

orientation designed for a hand-held enclosure with switch to direct ‘on’ pointed towards moving star

Week 5 | Materials & Fasteners

I started this project out with the idea of an incense holder in mind. For this week’s project of combining materials, I chose to use a mix of woods (walnut and purple heart) along with brass and cork. I first went through my existing pieces of scrap from my wedges project and found a pyramid-like shape cut that seemed to go along nicely for this concept.

I went to a hardware supply store and found 1/8” brass tubing that would easily work for the concept of holding the incense at a desired angle and direction. The problem with my current incense holder is precisely that issue — misguided direction.

I considered just flattening the edge of the pyramid and having the brass tube come out of one side, but I had the Purple Heart wood just sitting there, asking to be used for something. So I took it to the miter saw and just cut a simple 3/4” piece, as the wood panel itself was 4” x 3/4” x 12”.

I assembled the pieces together using a brass wooden screw and used cork feet to cover the fastener. The only adhesive used in the project was the one included on the cork feet, and all other connections are hardware based. Steps of process are below.

1. collect wood specimens

2. pilot hole in pyramid shape

using drill press

3a. align angular pilot hole

using drill press and scrap wood turned into jig

3b. angular pilot hole completed

4. test fitting

brass tube fits snugly in at proper angle

5. pilot hole in base

using drill press for fastener to connect pyramid shape

6. drill out inlet

for brass screw head

7a. assembly

brass screw to fasten pieces together

7b. assembly

cork feet applied

assembly complete.

Week 4 | Enclosures

This week for the enclosures project, I wanted to use the principles we learned this week regarding standoffs and enclosures for components. I went the cheap option (ie FREE) and used the supplied hardware and components in the shop and found scraps of wood to cut on in both the Maker Space and ITP Shop.

I used a digital caliper to measure the hardware and then drew a vector illustration in Adobe illustrator to build out the shape and wanted to include instruction for the chosen switch. I went with a hexagon shape and created inlets for the hardware as well.

1. digital caliper

to measure hardware

2. recorded measurements

of hardware and component requirements

3. illustrator design

to print/engrave/cut via laser printer

4. laser-cut/etch

front of birch wood

5a. laser-etch

reverse side of top of enclosure for hardware inlets

5b. laser-etch

reverse side of bottom of enclosure for hardware inlets

6a. assemble top of enclosure

switch and labeled indicator

6b. assembly of enclosure

with standoffs

6c. assembly of enclosure

with switch/indicator

7a. complete assembly of enclosure

with bottom

7b. complete assembly of enclosure

7c. complete assembly of enclosure

7d. complete assembly of enclosure

Week 3 | Something on the Laser

This week I attempted to make a merkabah again, this time in a bit more of a safer approach — on the laser cutter/printer. For the shape design, I first started in Vectorworks, creating a 3D emulation of the design of a merkabah made out of stone that I have had for some time. In vectorworks, there is a tool that allows you to create contours based on a determined measurement throughout the shape. From there, I isolated the cuts from the contour and sent them to illustrator to cut.

I first printed out a cardboard model to ensure that the shapes cut properly and then switched to found acrylic in the scrap bin at the Makerspace. I had gone to canal plastics and had purchased glue last semester so used that in the assembly. I learned in the process that the contours option didn’t quite fulfill my goal, so will also attempt this with fusion 360 slices at some point in the future. Steps and photos of my process are below.

merkabah shape

made out of shungite stone

1. make 3d drawing of merkabah

via vectorworks

2. Add contours to merkabah

separated by 1/8” via vectorworks

3. remove contours from 3d object

separated by 1/8” via vectorworks

4. Combine shapes and make ready to print

via vectorworks and copy/pasted into adobe illustrator

5. Print out via Epilog laser cutter

cardboard and acrlyic

6. Assemble with masking tape to ensure shape works

7. Assembled

mix of cardboard and acrylic pieces

8. Open and prep acrylic glue for application

9. Use tweezers to position tiny pieces

10. Partially assembled

11. Assembly complete.

Week 2 | 5 or more of something

For this week’s project, I wanted to create a merkabah out of two of my favorite woods — walnut and purple heart. Unfortunately due to delays, my purple heart came in about 4 days too late to be included in this project. Also, due to some angular limitations with using the miter saw and my planning, I was not able to create the cubic triangles that I had intended. Instead, I created 6 wedge-like triangle pieces that are oddly shaped yet almost uniform.

To begin, I ordered on amazon two uniform milled planks of walnut wood that I then glued together with several clamps and let it cure overnight. In the interim, I attempted to understand the angles and how I needed to cut and practiced with some scrap wood I found in the shop.

two walnut planks

3/4” x 4” x 12” purchased on amazon.com

gorilla wood glue

used for a 24 hr cure

glue applied almost evenly

need a few more clamps

Next I took the piece to the Miter saw and attempted to cut in half (a bit dangerous I figured out quickly) and took the pieces to the sander to be more of a triangular shape (thanks to Ben’s suggestion). After about an hour at the sander, I had 3 pieces ready to cut.

measured and ready to cut

not able to cut angels on the miter saw at this point

roughly measured

sanding down

three ready to cut

cutting on the miter saw

After the miter saw I took the pieces back to the sander and took the edges down a bit. I ended up making 6 and saw that they made a nice hexagon shape when put together.

singular piece

Week 1 | Flashlight Project

This week the challenge was to build a flashlight using any material and process, ensuring that the device have a battery and a light. Since I’ve been playing in digital fabrication and wanting to focus on projects within that space this semester, I decided to take a deep dive into creating a piece that snapped together and into place, using no adhesive (other than the hot glue to hold the LED into place on the acrylic).

To start out I did some light research on using the laser to cut the material in order to allow it to bend and curve over a fixed shape. I found this project article on instructables (via the Intro to Fabrication site) outlining different methods on how to make wood bend and different patterns to use.I chose a pattern that looked like it would work for my first go ahead. I planned out all vectors in illustrator and used the Parametic kerf #4 to create the bends.

In addition to the shell I knew I needed to create a supportive frame structure. I decided to create a lite skeleton across the board that allowed for a hollow center for wiring and power source.

I decided to build in the Tandon MakerSpace and I printed on found cardboard in the scrap box at the location and was fairly successful in my conception and completion, mostly. I realized after printing that my measurements were off for the connecting end pieces and fixed the image for the wooden model.

Next, I moved onto the wood. In tradition of ITP this movement was a total failure. When I went to assemble the pieces, the shell cracked and broke into pieces. Needless to say, it was back to the drawing board (errr vector board, aka illustrator).

I was grateful that I was in the Maker Space, where they have several example projects and I was able to find a pattern that bent the way way I was intending. I re-designed and re-printed on a piece of wood I purchased from the MakerSpace store for $2. From there I quickly assembled the wooden pieces and began to cut out the acrylic. I assembled a simple circuit with a switch and 220 resister connected to a 9V battery. And voila!