18. Applications & Implications

Final Project Questions

The assignment for this week is answering some questions. Here are the questions and the answers.

  • “Plan a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:

  • What will it do?:

    The idea is a Magic the Gathering card scanning machine. I’ve had to narrow the spirals down to dispensing individual cards into a “Scanning Area” Where I’ll use a pre-existing scanning solution to do the actual scanning. It’d take me even longer than FabAcademy in it’s entirety to figure out how to identify all 89.029 (As of writing) unique printings. For the time being I’m targeting using a phone app for scanning. Some of the apps also have an option to produce an audible beep after successful scanning.

  • Who’s done what beforehand?

    I found One FabAcademy Final Project from Diego Santa Cruz. It looks rather incomplete but amounts to a webcam mounted to a laser cut frame pointed at a card and using OCR to pull the card’s title. That’s fine enough if all you care about is the mechanics of the game but since the same card can have multiple printings of wildly different value it doesn’t help me at all. His method narrows the 89.029 cards down to 29.865.

    I also found this playlist from Jack Baumgartel where he covers his progress making and designing a Magic the Gathering scanning/sorting machine. This has proved an excellent resource for mechanical principles and inspiration.

  • What sources will you use?

    So far, I’ve primarily relied on the aforementioned Youtube Playlist and friends/colleagues. There’s not many open-source or accessible designs tackling this issue.

  • What will you design?

    The “Card Chute” which contains the un-scanned cards.

    The dispensing mechanism which moves cards from the chute into the scanning area

    The scanning area

    Motor control board for stepper and a positioning system using endstops to detect card positions.

  • What materials and components will be used?

    The chassis is mostly 3D Printed PLA but I’m also using 2.5mm aluminum cut on a water jet. Current plan is to make at least part of the card scanning area out of laser cut acrylic. I’m also debating adding lighting to the card scanning area. Depends on time availability. I’ll append this with a proper BOM once the machine is completed.

  • Where will come from(sic)?

    Oddly phrased question but I’m assuming it’s asking where I’m sourcing the materials. Most of these are sourced from the lab with the rest being purchased separately. I want this to be as fab-inventory compliant as possible.

  • How much will they cost?

    Hopefully not too much. I’m aiming for something under 15.000 Icelandic Króna. The Steppers I’m currently using as a reference for the design were salvaged from a small desktop mill and I’ll have to figure out a suitable non-scrap alternative.

  • What parts and systems will be made?

    Card lift, dispensing mechanism, scanning area and (potentially?) lighting.

    A motor control board to handle the stepper lifting up & down. Two end stops to detect the zero position and the position of the top card. Undecided on final card dispensing mechanism. Albert is playing around with using rollers. I’m messing around with using a servo swiper arm.

  • What processes will be used?

    3D Printing for the main assembly/chute, CO2 Laser Cutting for structural components, Water Jet Cutting for the 2.5mm aluminum used in the lfit plate, Roland MDX-20 Milling for PCB outline, Fiber Laser Engraving for PCB traces.

  • What questions need to be answered?

    Can it reliably feed cards and time the feeding with the scanning?

    Which feed mechanism suits this use case?

  • How will it be evaluated?

    I feel the project should be evaluated off of how well it demonstrates knowledge of the disciplines used. Additive/Subtractive design. 2D/3D CAD, Electronics design and programming.

    The area I want to focus on the most is ease of assembly/operation. All parts should be easily accessible for maintenance and the entire machine should be easy to reproduce using standardized parts.

    The intent is to have as much of the machine made in the lab as possible while still using common easily accessible parts where reasonable.

    Most importantly, I want to make something I’m proud of and reflects what I’ve learned. This is a machine I intend on using and iterating on after graduating.

  • Criteria:

    Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design,

    additive and subtractive fabrication processes,

    electronics design and production,

    embedded microcontroller design, 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