Final Project¶
There is a lot of spiral development that goes into a final project. You can’t get everything done in the first few weeks, nor the last. You gotta keep going at a constant rate. Thats what my final project needs, at least. First, I sketched it out (see week one), then I started buying my materials just to fully visualize what I might make it out of. First, I went to McMaster Carr and saw some amazing things. The whole inside is so intricate and efficient. I ended up getting a few different types of foam from McMaster and a roll of copper sheets.
Fun McMaster Car Facts¶
So, my school is about 20 minutes from McMaster Carr (which there are only 4 distributing locations across the country), so I got kind of lucky with that! It was based in Elmhurst, Illinois and is so efficient that it cant deliver anything to anywhere in less than a week. In Northeast Ohio, we get stuff delivered sometimes as quick as two hours. In fact, it’s so efficient that you can’t take pictures in there. McMaster Carr is very protective of it’s system and tries to eliminate any form of spying by not allowing tours or pictures. I wish I could post pictures so that people from around the world could see how huge it is, but I sadly can’t. Let’s just say it’s about the size of a couple warehouses.
Copper Plates¶
Types of Foam¶
The types of foam that I got are Resilient Polyurethane Foam Sheets: Ultra Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/2” Extra Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/2” Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/4” Extra Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/4” Ultra Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/4”
I’m thinking about using the Ultra Soft 1/2” for the middle piece sandwiched between the two copper sheets and two of the Extra Soft 1/4” to sandwich everything together. This will make it easier to bend. Later on, I might switch to steel just because the force of a volleyball might dent the copper, there by making it harder to use.
Materials¶
I ended up using these different materials rather than all the ones I bought:
| Qty | Description | Price | Serial Number/Amazon Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/4” | 12.35 $ | 86375K134 | Cut up into 6x6 pieces |
| 1 | Ultra Soft, 12” x 12” x 1/4” | 15.31 $ | 86375K112 | Cut up into 6x6 pieces |
| 1 | Copper Shim 6 x 50 in, .01 in thick | 22.17 $ | 9708K11 | Cut up into 6x6 pieces |
| 1 | PCB Boards | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | ATTiny 45 | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | 10k Resistors | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | 1M Resistors | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | FTDI Headers | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | 2x3 Pin Headers | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | 2x2 Pin Headers | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | 1uF Capacitor | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | Red LEDS | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | Green LEDS | FabLab Inventory | ||
| 1 | FTDI Cables | 15.31 $ | https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Terminated-Galileo-BeagleBone-Minnowboard/dp/B06ZYPLFNB/ref=asc_df_B06ZYPLFNB/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309773039951&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17001095912411606454&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1023191&hvtargid=pla-599566704604&psc=1 | |
| 1 | USBTiny Programmer | 12.95 $ | https://www.amazon.com/TinySine-USBtinyISP-AVR-Programmer-Arduino/dp/B00N8EVQ30 |
Linked Weeks¶
Sites that helped me a whole lot¶
How to import libraries that never seem to import
Gustavo Deabreu’s Site on Input Boards (really well documented)
Presentations¶
Files¶
Eagle Networking-Output Schematic
Eagle GUI TXRX based off Neil’s Program
License¶
For my license, I think I’ll be using the MIT License. I feel that it protects my project best, though I know that it doesn’t protect all of my intellectual property. I think that for now, its a good use, but in the future I think I’ll work more with the Creative Commons and apply for different patents so if its necessary, I could bring whoever copies my product to court. In the future as well, I’d like to do more work with protecting intellectual property. As someone who has had intellectual property stolen and had to witness the thief being protected, I feel an especially strong connection to protecting it. I feel like it is basic human rights to protect thoughts and that they should be more heavily considered private property, though it is hard to considered who publish what first, but today in the modern age with digital time stamps, it’d be so much easier to financially protect others work. For example, the moving picture; first invented by Louis le Prince, but later credited to Thomas Edison. Louis le Prince’s moving pictured was dated back 3 years before Thomas Edison had even conceived of his, but alas, due to America’s poor patenting system, his moving picture device was considered to rather be a 16 lens camera and was not believed to actually hold the true power that his family and other elite had observed. After his mysterious disapperance in 1890, Thomas Edison patented his moving picture device and went on to ‘make’ many more inventions. Edison did nothing but use the patent system in America to weasle his way into filing lawsuits over his ‘original’ ideas. To me, patent is a dirty word, slashed and slaughtered by the countless large corporations and Edison himself, the one who paved the way for a patent only being a note for a lawsuit, rather than intellectual property. So, I’d like to make a proposal. Lets not call Edison or any other ‘inventor’ that used their patents to make money off of lawsuits, to make a loophole in the system to only make themselves richer and starve those under them of their intellectual property, the most important of all. Lets praise Nikola Tesla, Louis le Prince, and every single inventor with unknown names, unknown aftermaths, unknown lives feeding the faceless corporations. We see you. Make yourself known to the world.