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Magic Table

Magic Table Magic Table cabinet B in Fusion360

My dream is to create an interactive table for my magical demonstrations. Since I tend to dream big, I plan on breaking the project into managable pieces. I hope to complete at least step 1 for my final Fab Academy project.

  1. An interactive table top that can be placed ontop of a premade stand.
  2. Fizzbit my animatronic familiar assistant, who is voice activated.
  3. Intergrate Fizzbit to control some special effect circuts on the table top.
  4. Build a cabinet on wheels for the table top. The back will have small shelves and/or hold signs. May contain "magical" creatures in containers. Like a fairy using Pepper's Ghost trick. Or movement or lights.
  5. Cauldron with light up base stand that looks like fire, a bottom that opens and closes at least 10.5 inches in diameter, self stirring spoon, fog machine, and lift for cake.
  6. Additional shelving cabinet for audience side that connects to main table.
  7. Background collapsable flag stand.

Research

I have been imagining my magic table for years. My design constantly changes as I learn new scientific tricks to show the kids. Throughout the years I have been inspired by movies, the reniassance festival, furniture that opens for additional storage, pretty much anything that goes beyond the expected basic purpose.

  • This was an interesting link shared in one of the fab academy chats. It uses copper tape over 3d printed objects to make circut boards.

  • Gardening table that has wheels. The top also slides outwards to become counter space when the basin is in use. Gardening table

  • The DreamBox craft storage unit this amazing design wheels around, and opens to reveal a treasure trove of storage.

  • Tabinet A design combining a table and a cabinet.

  • My sewing table is another sorce of inspiration, as it closes into a compact movable cabinet that contains my machine inside. The lid opens, rests on a fold out bracket and the open door, and the machine rises using a lift.

Fab Academy projects that may be helpful:

  • Marimbatron: Leo Kulper, 2024 used fillament waist for table inlays, and look at his sensors.
  • Enzo the Toucan-anomatronic toucan by Burak Turkoz Aalto Fablab
  • Andrea Paola Rubio Paredes - Alive Wood touch light table, Barcelona
  • Quentin Bolsee's piano_piezo Uses piezoelectric touch sensor. I love the science of the Piezoelectric crystals, and would love to use natural crystals in my design. Can I hit a quartz crystal, and conduct electricity? I have done this. When you bang 2 quartz crystals together it creates cold fire sparks. They are considered cold, because they are not likely to start a fire. However, if you collect 2 large quartz crystals from your yard, and rub them together in the dark, you will see sparks and smell burning.
  • Inigo Gutierrez Febles used capacitative circuits. His final project uses stepper motor to raise and lower a desk.

  • Neil is impressed with the PIOs on rp processors. More versatile and customizable, because there are many little processors that you can program peripherals from. Also he suggests RFC sensors for interactivity like in an interactive magical table top!

  • Garret Nelson sent these 2 videos about Disney's bipedal robots.

  • First Video is just a Disney research video on design and control of a bipedal robotic character

  • The next video is an over 4 hour video on "Disney's living Characters: A broken promise.". Garret recommended I at least watch around the 2hr mark, since I didn't have 4 hours to spare. That part was on the creation of interactive animatronic characters. My take away was that what really made an exceptional experience was the human handler, since the robot was hampered by its programming. However, with more input and complex analysis a more realistic humanoid robotic character can be achieved. With AI I can see that a much more nuanced character personality can be achieved.

  • Angela showed me Home Assistant that can be made with a Raspberry Pi. This home assistant may be the perfect answer to my Fizzbit.

2D model of table top

Magic table design

2D and 3D Modeling

Magic table designs in progress:

From week 2: Swirly branchlike table top design. I dislike this design so much that it is not worth the space to keep the .cdr files, but I have them on my local computer should you want them.

From week 3: fusion360 cabinet design Check out week03 parametric construction kit for details on the problems I have faced with this design.

From week 4: Embedded programming is new and fascinating to me. It is one of the topics I most wanted to learn about. My starting electronic skill was copper tape, an led, and a button battery, so being able to turn on and off an led with a tap of my wand or touch on the table was my goal. Now, I hope to use "home assistant" to have Fizzbit, my personal assistant, run parts of my table. Mr. Dubick also briefly went over stepper motors. I think a ULN2003 running a 28BYJ-48 would work well to move a small, lightweight creature in a cage. A larger stepper motor might work for my cake lift. and a servo motor might be what I need to move Fizzbit's tail using a cosplay style, living hinge like tail.

From week 5: My table top and cabinet won't be needing 3D printing that I can think of, yet. However, Fizzbit's tail is the perfect thing to 3D print.

Materials

Wood, inlayed with conductive material, ...

Qty Description Price Link Notes

Build Process

Step-by-step documentation of the build will go here.

Final Result

Photos and description of the finished project will go here.