Applications and Implications

week 16 assignment is to Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:

• What will it do?
• Who's done what beforehand?
• What will I design?
• What materials and components will be used?
• Where will come from?
• How much will they cost?
• What parts and systems will be made?
• What processes will be used?
• What questions need to be answered?
• How will it be evaluated?

And the requirements that must meet my project are also given in the assignment

My project should incorporate 2D and 3D design, additive and subtractive fabrication processes, electronics design and production, embedded microcontroller interfacing and programming, system integration and packaging

Where possible, I should make rather than buy the parts of my project

Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show my individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable

Overview

This week doesn't have any practical assignments related to machines. Those days are over. I already decided what to do for final project in the first week.checkout my week 1 and project page to know more about the project.so I'm gonna answer all the questions in the assignment through my final project findings

What will it do?

From the problem statement which I'm trying to do through this project is to solve the issues with the current school/college Time table showcasing system. The time table which mostly hanged on the class room's wall and near the black board where everybody in the class can see.So the important of the Time table is to prepare the students and teacher for engaging studying activity with a distributed time for each subjects and teacher.

So I'm reinventing the timetable system with this little project of mine with IoT features which gives the possibility of editing the timetable schedule live. The flipping mechanism is an attraction of this project feels good and happy when we see the high speed flipping.That's why I named this project 'Flip Table'.

Basically this device has 3 mechanical split - flap display and a 4 digit full color 7 segment clock . It shows the current subject or event on the main split flap display segment which is already scheduled. Then the following two segments will shows the upcoming events or subject as per the schedule.The 4 digit 7 segment display shows the time. There will be an app which used to control the flip table and also can schedule or reschedule the events which is written on the split flap displays

Who's done what beforehand

This idea came to me while I was looking for an idea for a final project during my diploma course.No body done this yet,I searched over the internet. But the split flap displays are available and those are very common in airports,railway stations bus stations etc... But nowadays split flap displays are replacing with new LED Displays

This was my first inspiration It's an mechanical split flap clock which has an open design shows the beauty of the mechanism while it rotates.It costs around ₹8K rupees( $100 USD) on amazon.

Here is a picture of a Split-Flap Scheduling Display from Frankfurt Airport,Germany. The sounds are very crazy to hear and fascinating.But nowadays these display's are replaced by the new Digital LED board Technologies.Watch the videos for feeling the sounds

• Split-Flap/Solari Departure Board, Frankfurt Airport 2006
• Split Flap Display by Oat Foundry | Old School Departures Boards

The split-flap displays at the airport also called Departure boards.For making those giant board required large mount of finding and time other skills as well.

What will I design?

I did a possible design without any engineering measurement during the design week of FAB academy . The design only shows how the final outlook of the project looks.Please check my Week 2 for more.

Here is the rendered picture of my final project showing each parts which I need to design and build to make the project real.

mechanical structure :-

Did not start any designing regarding the split-flap mechanism for my flip table yet but I have some ideas that helps to figure out how it gonna be made.I also did some research found some open source projects regarding the split flap mechanism.

Here is a an amazing youtube channel I found out for exploring the split-flap mechanism and It's awesome and nicely explained video.The cannel name scottbez1 and he explains all of the cases and workings ,parts and components of the split flap display so this video give me an idea of how to design an Split-flap mechanism for my Flip-Table.

4 digit 7 segment display

As a part of the maker community around the world I noticed many amazing 7 segment clocks built by the Addressable neo pixel LEDs and 3D printed enclosures.Using the addressable LEDs helps to reduce the Hardware complexity and also get a full color 7 segment display which we can change color by controlling it.

Here is an example of a 4 digit 7 segment display clock project built by neo pixel LEDs and looks awesome check out the instructables documentation for further details

My plan exactly like this but need to reduce the size to integrate inside flip table. So, one segment will be one Neo pixel LED and also will try to reduce the size as possible as I could.

Here I found an example from thingiverse.com to try out and this project also small one, For mine will have 4 7 segment digits and two dots for indicating seconds animations. but I'm not gonna include the AM and PM notifications instead I will be using either 24 hour setting or 12 hour setting with colored notifications as per the AM and PM. Check out the Thingiverse page for the project

Electronics Design :-

For electronics I have no doubts and already know what is gonna be right components for the control board of the Flip Table project.So by identifying the required components and availability of them I made a simple block diagram for the control board.

You can clearly see in the diagram I'm using the ESP32 as my Flip Table's Brain and 3 Motor drivers ,3 limit switch Sensors are also going to use in the controller.

Sensors:- from my research the mechanical split flap mechanism required a limit switch sensor for understanding the position of each flaps in order to display as we programed.Probably gonna use a Hal effect magnetic sensor for detecting the homing position.

Motor Drivers:-I already learned about motor drivers and it's using while our Machine week so here I required 3 pcs Motor driver for each motors which connected to each split flap mechanism.

ESP32 (the control board):- So the reason why I'm using the ESP32 is It's the right choice for me because Of the availability and easiness of use apart from that it has wifi connectivity and lots of GPIO pins so It gonna reduce the control board's Circuit complexity.

Power supply:-I don't have to design a power supply just need to chose form the market which suits the project's power description and It will be an adaptor so I'll give a DC JACK to plug in the adapter like we did in our Machine Week.

Final Enclosure

By doing the possible design practice in week 2 I already gave an awesome looking Enclosure to the project so Now all I have to think about how can I do the enclosure in FAB LAB with available material.

Here is final enclosure layers I've designed before and this will be a 3 part the middle one sort of like a skelton to this projects because It holds the entire mechanism and 7 segments clock digits, the middle one will assemble to the wooden enclosure and the final or third one will be a black transparent sheet to cover every internal screws and others. The main and wooden enclosure will be made by cutting 2D profiles and stacking the wooden sheets.and will wrap a vinyl around it for getting the look and feel possibl.

So I'm gonna design this project as an IoT (Internet of Thing) Product which we can connect to a network and control or automate anywhere in the world.along with the Hardware also creating a User Interface application

What Materials ,Where it come from & How Much?

For Build the flip table Required many components and materials for each machine and assembly process.Most of the available in our FAB LAB Inventory some of them I need get from out side.But about the cost,I'm not actually sure about.any way It's not a cheap cost project I'll try to make it as low as possible with all the machine process I know. I hope I can keep all in my budget.

Here I'm listing them according to the Design process and Development steps I follow's through.The price and source of the product also given as I know

Split Flap mechanism :-

Full color 4 Digit Display :-

Electronics Design :-

Final enclosure :-

What Process will be use?

• Laser cutting
• Vinal cutting
• 3D Printing
• Circuit Designing
• PCB Milling
• Wood CNC Milling
• Soldering and Assembling
• Embedded programing
• Android application making

What questions need to be answered?

By doing this project I have an expectation which solve the Problem I targeted with this prototype I'm making in FAB LAB.So very exited to see how it's gonna work at the other than that I already have several questions needs to be answered during and after the Prototype making.

• Dose this Solve the problem I'm seeking and can be a better solution ?
• Is the Display in the prototype can be visible for all persons in a class from distance?
• Is it oky to use a 2 mm acrylic sheet flaps for a split-flap mechanism
• Can the Stepper Motors I've got from the Lab, Actuate the split-flap mechanism ?
• How can I make a attractive wooden enclosure with less complications?.

How will it be evaluated?

As close as I get the results I'm expecting, Then I'm very much happy to feel about the project. Other than that It's a FAB Academy project, so I can use all the knowledge I gathered during the academy to make this project real using as much as Process.If I made it workable with the available materials. Yeah, then I can Say "The Flip-Table project is be more successful to be evaluated".

Evaluation Points

• If Its works smoothly with the split flap mechanism I designed
• If the full color 7 segment 4 digit can show time in different color settings
• If its works according to the user settings from the application
• If i can include all the fab academy process i gathered so far