Final Project¶

Initial Final Project¶

This is the setup for my inital final project that will later be changed. My final project documentation starts at “Change in Final Project.”

My final project is a flower pot that has the ability to mostly sustain itself while remaining discreet. It will be able to detect the soil moisture values, temperature, and water amount. Based on these readings, the flower pot will automatically water itself, inform you of a bad location of the flower pot, and tell you if the water tank needs to be refilled. It would be able to do all of this while still looking like a normal flower pot so nobody except yourself would know the wiser.

What I Will Need¶

• Water Sensor
• Moisture Sensor
• Temperature Sensor

Design Iterations¶

Inital Design¶

This first outline of my project was very simple and only gave me the dimensions for each compartment and the entire flower pot itself. I originally planned for the shape of the flower pot to be a rectangular prism.

First Redesign¶

I wanted to be able to have ease of access to each compartment to the flower pot. I wanted a twist on and off like design so I decided to change the shape of the flower pot to be a cylinder. I also switched the location of the water compartment and the electronics compartment so that the wires of the electronics compartment didn’t have to (somehow) move through the water compartment to get readings from the soil.

CAD Designs¶

All Compartments¶

This file on Fusion 360 included the plans for every compartment of the flower pot. This design also included the twist on and off feature that I wanted to be included in the flower pot so that each compartment can be easily taken off and reassembaled if needed.

Change in Final Project¶

I decided to change my final project to a tech deck ‘park’ that was built along a conveyor belt so that the ‘park’ was essentially endless. This is something that I saw by someone named who created this idea. Similar to his, the features would be able to be switched out using magnets and things like rails could be elongated by putting them next to eachother on the track. When playing with a tech deck normally, you either had to move with the board or stay confined to a space that stays constant. With this you can go through a changing space while not having to move with the board. I would like to improve upon his design as well, I want to be able to change the speed of the track for harder difficulty, count the amount of rotations, add more features, and more.

Why I Changed¶

I decided to change my final project because I felt as thought the flower pot was not a thing I was all that interested in and I felt that it was overused as a final project overall. I also realized that the project would be more heavily coding oriented and I wasn’t sure if I would be prepared enough to code the project in the early weeks so that I wouldn’t have too much to do near the end. I feel as thougnh the new final project idea or be more enjoyable for me as well.

Flowchart¶

My flowchart was created on Lucid and can be found here

Timeline¶

Bill of Materials¶

3D Model¶

I made a simple 3D model of my final project. I made the design in Fusion360 The design does not include the DC motor or chains but it gives a general outline of what my project will look like. I decided not to use parameters for my 3D design because it was just a 3D model.

I started out by creating a rectangle sketch and extruding it, this will be the base that everything sits on.

I then created the sides that would hold the tredmill up. I did this by creating construction rectangles on the edges so that I can place the rectangles that I would extrude and create my sides.

I then created the sketch for the wood pieces which would be connected to the chain to extrude. I did this by making one side of the top layer that had an array of rectangles made with the rectangle tool and the rectangular pattern tool and then one side on the sides using the rectangle tool and then mirroring both across the holder.

I then extruded the other holder and then the wood that would be on the roller chain.

I then created a new sketch on the roller wood pieces and made three circles, one for the magnet that would allow you to connect new features and the other for the hole that would screw the roller chain onto the wood. I then used a rectangular pattern to copy these circles onto each of the wood pieces.

I extruded the magnet circles up a small amount and made it a new body so that I could change the appearance separetly from the rest of the model. I also extruded the roller chain holes down and cut into the wood.

I then changed the appearance of the base to a cherry wood appearance and the magnets to a stainless steel appearance.

You can download my 3D model here

Design for Milling¶

I started to create my designs for my ShopBot.

Roller Chain Wood Pieces¶

I started out by creating a new file and Fusion360 and making a sketch. I wanted my design to be made parametrically in case I needed to change some things about it.

I made a rectangle set to my rectangle_width and rectangle_length and then making the holes for the magnet and screws utilizing my magnet and screw parameters.

I then made a construction line in the middle of the wood and then mirroed the holes across that line.