About
I'm making an educational model for automata. Most kids here in Fablab Vestmannaeyjar are just making stickers or something in the lasercutter. It would be nice if their interest for moving, 3d things, would be woken up. So I deceided to make a box with 7 kinds of automata in it. It goes from a 'low crank slider, to a crankshaft, to an oscillating lever, to a ratchet, to an eccentric cam to a jumping cam and last but not least a double friction wheel. The front of the box will be made out of plexiglas so that you will be able to see what is happening inside. The automata can be driven manually or with a stepper motor.
What will it do?
- The letters "FABLAB" will move when you turn on the motor.
Who's done what beforehand?
- Automata has been used before in lot's of things. Especially toys.
What materials and components will be required?
- Wood (MDF) (for the box)
- Plexiglass (front of the box)
- Electronics (LED, motor, switch...)
- Plastic (3D printer)
Where will they come from?
- Wood from the local wood suplier
- Plexiglass from what's in the lab (orderd on plexigler.is)
How much will it cost?
- The cost of the wood, plexiglass (2500 isk = 30 cm/60cm) and electronics together. As for now I don't have any idea about the price.
What parts and systems will be made?
- The box will be made out of MDF wood and plexiglass.
- The letters, or whatever the new design will be, will be made out of wood in the shopbot. Or foam. Depending on how heavy the material can be to be supported by the steppermotor.
What process will be used?
- Basicly everything will be made in the lab here. From the box to the electronics.With use of the shopbot, lasercutter...
What tasks need to be completed?
- The design need to be finished in the computer. Which includes making the box, making the letters, making the parts inside of the box.
- Physical design:
- Lasercutting the box in MDF wood and plexiglass
- Molding and casting the "FABLAB" letters or using the shopbot for it
- 3d printing all the components inside of the box or using the lasercutter
- Making the circuit boards
- Putting everything together
- Programming the circuit boards.
What questions need to be answered?
- How am I going to connect everything
What is the schedule?
- Before the 15th of may (wednesday) finishing the rough idea in a 3d program.
- 16 -17 may working on the box and try outs for the mechanical design (carboard in lasercutter, before 3d printing it)
- Weekend => extra time if i'm running behind + starting on molding and casting/3d printing
- 20 may - 23 may => molding and casting + 3D printing
- 24 may: cutting out the circuit boards, soldering and programming.
- 24 - 29 may: putting everything together.
But this is absolutely a dream. The deadline is 29th of may so I'll be working on it whenever I can. My internship here finished the 31th of may and after that I'll have to go back to Belgium. Not knowing when I'll be back in a lab to finish the project (lets hope that I don't have to finish it in another lab) or hopefully remake it.
How will it be evaluated?
- The first part: the letters will be moving up and down when you manually turn the wheel
- A steppermotor will give the power to move the device.
Mechanical design tryout in lego.
Since I've learned through the Fab Academy that when I design something I need to have a drawing on paper or an easy 3D model from it, I've deceided to make some of the automata in lego. Just so I'd better understand how it works and how the parts need to be made. Non of the parts that you see in the video will be used in the final project.