Hi! I'm a computer scientist turned management consultant turned engineer looking to build meaningful hardware and software products. I took this class so that I could get my fabrication skills up to snuff so that I can rapidly prototype electromechanical hardware systems. I hope you find this documentation helpful as you begin your fabrication journey. I know I had a blast learning how to make things and I'm sure you will too!
You can visit the main course website from my year here.
Final Project
Throughout the weeks I was constantly working toward my final project which morphed from an electrically expanding dinny room table into a home alarm keypad!
Week 1: CAD Design
Our week 1 task was to sketch and model a final project using CAD software. I decided to tackle this week using Antimony and Solidworks.
Week 2: Computer Controlled Cutting
Our week 2 task was to begin to experiment with the vynil and laser cutters and to use the laser cutter and some corregated cardboard to build a press-fit construction kit. I decided to take some simple shapes and make "legos" and build something random.
Week 3: Electronics Production
Our week 3 task was to mill the microcontroller programmer board provided to us and surface mount soder on the required componenets. I decided to make one slight modificaiton to mine and add a power indicator LED.
Week 4: 3D Scanning and Printing
Our week 4 task was to make a design that can't be easily cut and print it on the 3D printers and to do some simple 3D scanning. I decided to make myself a new toothbrush holder.
Week 5: Electronics Desgin
Our week 5 task was to add at least a button and LED to the hello world board. I decided to add two LEDs and a button and then time permitting try to write code to have it count mod 4 with the button presses and the lights!
Week 6: Computer-Controlled Machining
Our week 6 task was to "make something big" we were provided with a 4x8 sheet of Oriented strand board (OSB) with which to work from and I used it to prototype a puzzle piece coffee table.
Week 7: Emedded Programming
Our week 7 task was to program our boards from Week 5 so I went about making the binary counter work!
Week 8: Molding and Casting
Our week 8 task was to create a positive mold in machineable wax then a negative mold in oomoo and then cast our object. I decided to make a small penguin because of an inside joke with my fiance.
Week 9: Input Devices
Our week 9 task was use a new input device on our boards. I decided to use the piezo as an input and keep working with buttons and LEDs.
Week 10: Composites
Our week 10 taks was to make burlap composite using foam as either the core or the mold. I decided to make a tennis racket!
Week 11: Output Devices
Our week 11 taks was to make a board that uses an output device. On the way to my new final project design I decided to build a board to output to an LED and to a speaker with a button as an input!
Week 12: Interface and Application Programming
Our week 12 taks was to interface one of our input or output boards to the computer and display data. I decided to do button counts over serial to node.JS!
Week 13: Networking and Communications
Our week 13 taks was to network between devices. I decided to practice for my final project and talk between Attiny44s in serial.