Final Project

I tried to create a sphere/planet.

Tools/Techniques Required:

Laser cutter, vinyl cutter, milling machine/molding & casting, milling, soldering, coding

1. Base of planet: The base of the planet was cast of silicone rubber. The motor/board is embedded in the base. The battery lives outside for ease of changing.

In hindsight I should have made spaces in the base for the battery/wires, and it needs to be heavier.

2. Body of planet: The body was made of a clear acrylic disc

A solid disk might have been better as the board/battery/traces are visible and somewhat distracting on the clear disk. The weight of the board needs to be better balanced as well - this is another advantage of the vinyl - it doesn't weigh very much.

3. Motor: This is a mini-DC motor (purchased) powered by a 9V battery, and operated by a board quite similar to the hello.H-bridge.44 board.

This needs to be placed more carefully, as the whole system wobbles when the disk spins. Also, test the motor before you crazy-glue it into the disk!

4. Lighting: 20 Charlieplexed LEDs placed linearly along the edge of the disc light up to produce the planet effect when the disc is spun.

I tried to generate this board (a linear charlieplexed array) in vinyl, but after numerous failed attempts (either the copper wasn't cut through or the traces were mangled in the process) I generated a circular version of it on the Modela and stuffed that version.

The board was successfully programmed with the map, but there is some unknown problem with the board right now and the LEDs are not lighting. There are 5V across the microcontroller, but only 0.9 - 2.6V on the leads going out to the Charlieplexed board and then only when the AVR programmer is attached (otherwise they are zero). On a functioning Charlieplex board these values are at 0 - 4+.

 

My Other Final Project

... I plan on continuing and finish this project during the spring semester but the hard part - organs, fingerprints, etc are pretty much done!