Homework assignment

Project development

Outcomes

1. Generation of idea. Firstly I wanted to make a device for documentation of the projects (it should work as a middle layer between USB-sticks and PC connected to machines). Than I decided that this case depends a lot on programming and I can only make a box for it using one of machines. The second idea had visited my at week 8 when I decided what to mill: the idea is a smart wardrobe which can be opened using RFID-card or remotely using Intel Galileo platform.
2. Make a box. Next problem appeared when I made a mistake with calculation of the amount of material I need to CNC a wardrobe. Size of the wardrobe was 180*40*50 cm I didn't take into account that I have only one sheet of plywood 1220*2440 cm. Later I bought more materials and successfully made a wardrobe.
3. Electronics inside. As I said my plan was not only to use RFID-card but to use remote access as well. I knew that Intel Galileo platform can be easily programmed with Processing language and allow to implement all my plans. So I made a shield for the platform with input, output and networking possibilities. The problem was that I decided to complete all homework with electronics in one step so I spend a lot of time with designing and making my electronic circuit because I didn't have so many experience as if I made homework step by step. There was one more problem: it's very difficult to buy right micro end mills in Russia with 3 or 6 mm tail, so we bought 0.4 mm end mill with 4 mm tail and used big CNC to mill the circuits - it was quite fun to make small things on a giant machine.
4. Time limits. When I had applied to the Fab Academy I knew how it's time consuming but reallity was harder than my imagination. Because I'm a director of Fab Lab Polytech I spend a lot of time to other projects: organization of international schools and bootcamps, management and checking of orders, our participation in the festivals, application to different grants and competitions, etc. That's why I don't clear the Fab Academy homeworks within the one week time step. I home that I succeed all critical stages of Fab Academy and my participation will not failed.
5. Big goals. I wanted to illustrate all knowledge and experience of Fab Academy by tutorials on two languages (russian and english), but because it consumes a lot of time - I made only several bilingual tutorials: milling the circuit, 3D-printing, molding and casting and input.

• Do not delay homework (it's obvious but took from me several nights for finishing different stuff).
• Write/document everything during the process (not only good experience deserved to be documented - only people who do nothing never make mistakes).
• Check everything step by step (from easy to complex assembly with testing on each step).