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18. Project Development

What tasks have been completed ?

Task List

This is my task sheet that I created for midterm reviews. And as you can see, I updated it and here you can see that I succeeded in everything except the interface and application programming.

  • Research

    • Sketching
    • Testing

  • At this point I will worked on the concept and decided what my final project will be.

    The first task is to make a sketch.

    The second tests the viability of the idea and determines how feasible it is to implement it within a certain period of time.

    At this point I had some ideas, from which I settled on a laptop stand with a built-in macro keyboard and Spacemouse .

  • Design

    • CAD modeling / 3D

      • Packaging Design for Electronics
      • Industrial Design
    • 2D Desgn
      • Board Shape
      • Icones design

  • Second Stage

    • So the second stage is probably the most important because in this stage I tested my idea. I divided this part into 3 subsections
    • Substage 1
    • I did 3D and 2D modeling and decided where and what would happen.

  • Electrnics Desgn/Prodution

    • Component Selection
    • Schematic Design
    • PCB Design
    • PCB Fabrication
    • Assembly
    • Testing

  • Substage 2

    • I have completed the electronics and PCB manufacturing phase.

  • Software Development

    • Programing
      • SpaceMouse Programing
      • Testing
      • Keyboard Programing
      • Testing
      • LED Programing
      • Testing
      • Networcing
      • Testing
    • Apication & Interface
      • APP for setting macros
      • Networcing
      • Testing

  • Substage 3.

    • I will start programming and creating applications that I will use in the project.

    As you can see, I made the program, not the interface design.

  • The final Stage of production/assembly

    • CNC 3D/2D
    • Laser Cutting
    • Molding
    • Vacuum Forming

  • The third stage is already the final one.

    • At this point I did everything else, fabrication of desk, PCB housing, etc.

What tasks remain?

I managed to complete all planned tasks. Programming the interface and application had to be left for later, since I did not finish it in the allotted week. I also had a pretty complicated idea, and since it was related to my latest project, I didn’t want to rush into it.

At this stage, I have already designed the user interface for my application. And all I have to do is come up with and write a code to communicate with my “SpacePad”.

What has worked? What has not?

I think my hardware turned out great, including the table itself, the PCB housings, the PCB itself was good too. The mechanical part of the design turned out very well, worked perfectly, and the 3D printing and post-processing also gave amazing results - very smooth surfaces.

But the most important thing, I think, is that it didn’t work out and either turned out badly. The problem was in programming, since I am a beginner and my project requires advanced knowledge, which I do not have yet. The thing is that to create Spacemouse I used keyboard libraries and decided not to use mouse libraries so that when used at the same time they would not conflict. In general, this problem can be solved by designing devices to interface directly with Solidworks or other graphics or 3D programs. But this is in an ideal world, and at this stage I cannot do this, since most of these programs are not open source. Otherwise the device works, all programmable macros work and now I am also working on the design of the application to make it more convenient to do this without a serial monitor.

What questions need to be resolved?

The main problem I would like to solve is the communication between the application and the device. Honestly, this isn’t even an issue because, like I said, I recently completed some of the UI design and I just need to link it to my device.

What will happen when?

I need to complete all work by June 30th due to deadline.

№ Task Details Deadline
1 CAD modeling / 3D Initial development 10.05.24
2 Packaging for electronics Spacemouse & Touch sensors 15.05.24
3 Electrnics Desgn Spacemouse & Touch sensors 20.05.24
4 Electrnics Prodution Spacemouse & Touch sensors 24.05.24
5 Icones design Macros iconesfor Touch sensors 25.05.24
6 Testing Hardware testing 26.05.24
7 Programing ALL 29.05.24
8 Apication & Interface Development of an application for setting up macros and Spacemouse 01.06.24
9 Testing Software testing 01.06.24
11 CAD modeling Final development of the whole project 02.06.24
12 CNC Milling & Laser Cutting Making an adjustable desk, base and mechanical elements from plywood. 03.06.24
13 Vacuum Forming Storage compartment- Mold making and vacuum forming 04.06.24
14 3D Printing & PCB Prodution 3D printing of all elements 04.06.24
15 Assembling Final assembly 05.06.24
16 Testing Final Testing 05.06.24

What have you learned?

Since I’m an industrial designer I can’t say what about 3D modeling or making things and 3D objects, I’ve learned a lot. True, I also learned something in this area. Well, what I didn’t know was about programming the production of printed circuit boards, and in general about design. I didn’t know all this either. I learned this from scratch at Fab Academy. And I really enjoyed it all, but probably most of all it was the PCB design. I also want to say that I really love good tools and about 2 years ago I bought myself a 3D printer. And now I really want to buy a small milling machine like Roland and make printed circuit boards myself at home, and this is also the first time I made moldings on this machine and in general this machine is super.

And in general, I want to thank the entire Fab Academy team, all the laboratories, all the Instructors for giving me the opportunity to study all this.