18. Applications and Implications & Project Managment
This week I will outline the final project that incorperates the processes we have learnt.
I went into a lot of detail during system intergration week if you wish to learn more.
What will it do?
My final project will be a electronic spinning wheel. It will take preprepared fibers and twist them into wool. Whilst doing this it will wind up the created wool onto a removable bobbin.
Who's done what beforehand?
Commercial Machines
Here are some e-spinning machine which are able to purchase. My aim is to create a open source version that is ideally cheaper than just buying one. Ideally cheaper than the £300 Electric Eel and better materials. I also want to add some more features which I will discus later on.
| Model | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Ashford ESpinner 3 | £730 |
|
| Electric Eel Wheel 6.1 | £300 |
|
| Hansen Maple miniSpinner v2 | £955 |
|
| Ashford ESpinner 3 | £730 |
|
Similar Projects for Inspiration
There has been one previous final project that I can find by Robert Hart. He appears to have made a spinner which is similar to the commercial ones available. This could have some useful information that I can build off.
There is a project by StudioHILO where the machine uses rollers to control the input of the roving and then the fiber is spun. There is unfortunatly not much information on the machine but it is an interesting idea. I was wondering if it would be possible to make the machine not need user input constantly. This is quite similar to industrial machines.
Oltaz Pereda has made a good example of a typical e spinning machine than uses a break band. The body is laser cut and uses a small BLDC motor.
Here is an example by Human Tech Lab of a portible walking wheel style spinning wheel. This does not use electronics but it a nice scaled down working example.
What will I design?
I will design a way to transfer the drive on a motor to a drum which will hold a knitting needle. A custom bobbin will slide on to this needle and will be where the wool is winded on to. I will also design a flyer which creats the twisting in the fibers.
There will need to be controls for the user to manage the speed so I will design custom PCBs and the code to allow communications between the seperate sections.
What materials and components will be used?
You can see a full list on materials and components on my bill of materials page along with the sources and price.
What parts and systems will be made?
3D prints:
CNC routed parts:
Laser cut:
Composites:
PCB Milling:
What questions need to be answered?
At the moment its a bit unsure how well the electronics will fit in the walls as it is a tight fit.
Another issue is the pully for the motor, I could not find a small enough bore so unsure how well it will tighten down using the grub screws and if it will be too much off center to run well.
We have decided to use I2C instead of wireless networking as I will already need to run power and ground between the nodes. I might as well run two more wires for I2C. Should be fairly strightforward but some issues could arrise.
We ended up going for a fairly powerful motor and esc, partly because we wanted forwards and backwards motor, but also so we have enough speed to spin. However there is not a a good understanding of what is a good speed for spinning. I am pretty sure we have enough but could cause an issue if we have overdone it.
How will it be evaluated?
First and formost it needs to be able to spin wool.
After this it needs to have controls which are intuative and easy to use.
I want it to be quite sturdy and portable so the packaging needs to be strong and well fitted.
The cabeling should be keyed and consistent so it isnt possible to plug something in incorrectly.
Project Development
What tasks have been completed?
The the mould and first draft of the composite has been made.
The 3D models for the internals have been made and adjusted to match the new belt design
The front and back walls have been modelled
Components for the PCBs and the internals have been brought
What tasks remain?
Make the second shell
Cut and sand the shells done to size
Mill out the front, back and base
Create PCB designs for controller and node, mill and solder
3D print bobbin
Write the code
Sand all the parts, fit the bearings and threadded inserts
Wire up all the plugs and the cables
Laser cut the top of the controller and put on vinyl symbols
Build the project
What will happen when?
As soon as I have my components I will make the PCBs. This allows me to write the code and start fitting parts together. Everything will move forward faster with them done.
Milling the front, back and base is also a priority in the next few days as they require quite a bit of finishing.
However the other tasks should be resolably dooable in a couple of days.
What's working? what's not?
Currently things are working for the most part but there is a lot to complete. There are also several issues that could come with those tasks.
One of the design flaws which is unfortunate is that the base is too close to the tabletop. This really limits the size of the flyer and bobbin and could cause issues with it hitting the plugs. I have moved things up as best as I can however I do not want to remake the mould for my casting so there is a limit.
What have I learnerd?
In the future I will just make everything a bit bigger and try have a larger view of all the parts and consider the system intergration earlier on before I end up commiting.