Week 17. Applications and Implications, Project Development
What are we doing this week?
Assignment
Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered,
answering:
What will it do?
Who's done what beforehand?
What will you design?
What materials and components will be used?
Where will they 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?
Your 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, you should make rather than buy
the parts of your project.
Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual
mastery of the skills, and be independently operable.
Final Project Proposal
What will it do?
Steady platform to hold a printer steady while printing on the move.
Who's done what beforehand?
I have seen a few projects that have used a similar concept of building Stewart platforms, but not necessarily using it for the purpose I intend to use it for.
What will you design?
I will be designing a Stewart platform or hexapod to hold a printer steady in the back of a mobile FAB lab driving on the road.
What materials and components will be used?
I will be using a range of materials from the Creative Spark Fab Lab - 3D printed components where possible, utilising FDM (PLA and PETG) and SLS (Nylon 12) printing processes.
XIAO RP2040 - microcontroller
6x Servo Motors SunFounder TD-8120MG Digital Servo - rated to 20kg each
Servo Driver PCA9685 - 16 channel
Adafruit BNO085 9DOF accelerometer and gyroscope
Mean Well RSP-150-7.5v 150watt power supply
Carbon fibre rods
Epoxy
Where will they come from?
Digi-Key for most of the electronic components, Amazon for the carbon fibre tubes.
How much will they cost?
Full costing is listed in the Bill of Materials - total cost to date is £163.62 (not including items sourced from the Fab Lab, print filament, powder and electronic components).
What parts and systems will be made?
As much as possible - I have designed and printed most of the components in Autodesk Fusion. The main body, platform top and the ball joints for the servo arms. The main PCB that holds the microcontroller, LEDs, buttons and connector terminals for the breakout boards. I would like to incorporate a 3.3V voltage converter; however, for the time being, I will run the RP2040 from the USB-C cable connected to laptop.
What processes will be used?
I will be using a few materials and components to make the project.
What questions need to be answered?
How will it be evaluated?- Will it be able to hold the printer steady while driving on the road?
- Will it be able to print while driving on the road?
- Will it hold something steady - I'll practice with a pint as this will be a small version - time constraints might prevent me creating the full-size part!
Issues I've encountered
AGHHHHH!
What went wrong... I'm not going to get the full-size steady table built... I've run out of time!
What went wrong.
Learning Outcomes
Code structure and the types of flow required - I will need to explore more of this, but this week has given me a good grounding.
I have a good grounding in the Arduino IDE and have a good understanding of the code structure and the types of flow required.