I've taken up spinning as a hobby during the pandemic,
after being loosely affiliated with
MIT's Spinning Arts Club.
Spining as an art form is also heavily referenced in a
graphical memoir that started out of a writing class at MIT
that was then
published in Angles 2021.
The idea of creating my own glow prop has been an idea
brewing in my mind for a while. I'm glad to finally have
the chance and resources to do so!
When I looked into existing glow props out in the
market, many did not fit my needs. Mainly, there
were few options for a glow puppyhammer, which consists
of a loong rope with two heads at either ends. Anything I
found was on the order of hundreds of dollars. The
main affordable prop was a glow poi, but they were on string.
I wanted an option that would be interchangeable with my existing
pupphammer rope, as they are sized to the individual. I also
wanted the prop, if it were LED-based, to also
be able to explore the performative possibilities of
being programmed. Hence my motivation for this project.
What is spinning?
Dissection, first of many
Design Goals
Other people, even in htmaa, have made some type of
glow prop:
https://archive.fabacademy.org/fabacademy2016/fablabalaska/students/422/abfinal.html
However, I have very specific goals for mine:
---The end should be exchangeable with a normal fire prop.
------My solution is to have it attacheable via
the quicklink on the rope. So any sort of eye bold would work.
---The electronics should be easily programmable to faciliate
testing and experimentation.
---The prop should light according to music or speed or be
otherwise responsive/interactive.
---There should be some sort of padding to protect the
electronics and the user from impact.
I am currently on track to meeting these, but have yet to
have a fully implemented prop end. I am closer than I have
ever been, and I see a clear path the end though!
I am very much a visual thinker and like to design in 2D to
organize thoughts in my head.
Electonics - the GUTS!
This was the part I had most sense of at
least what I needed to do and how. Brainstorming different functions
and the mechanisms needed to do so,
Is it sad to say that EVERY electronics week I have
tried to get my board working?
I decided to use an ESP32 since it has wifi and
bluetooth capabilities. The East Campus Fort
was decorated in LEDs controlled by ESP's and was responsive
to music.
The works in progress have been documented during the weekly
assignments starting from week 4. So Weeks 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11, with
Week 8 documenting a LOT of effort related
to the accelerometer/gyroscope.
While trying to see why my logic converter never
worked in practicality, I was also introduced to this
Circuit Simulator:
(https://falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html)
The most recent theory about why this doesn't work is mentioned in
Week 6.
Gosh did I learn a lot. Unfortunately, the "final" board I thought
was pretty clever had some fatal flaws.
The casing was 3D printed in black PLA on a friend's 3D printer.
Threads are able to cut into the PLA if there are holes of appropriate size. These holes
I made square-shaped.
3D printing on a Creality Ender
With all the hardware bits included
Holes to for through-hole pins to reach LED's and battery
Iterative Testing
Did I know how a casted silicone soft material would act
as a casing? No way! I just learned of molding and casting in Week 7
and found it AWESOME!!
Needless to say, there was a lot of
testing/prototyping going on, especially with how to mold this thing.
Notable improvements were seen in the following iterations due to:
The housing was too light
and floated too much in my first ecoflex iteration
Did initial tests in oomoo since its cure time is 75min versus 4 hours.
Discovered the cup idea holds potential.
Adding extra "feet" to keep it stable inside the silicone
The first iteration was so light, it floated in the ecoflex.
Now it is weighed down with metal hardware.
I put it beside the radiator to
make the reaction go faster. It finished about an hour early.
(based off the texture of the initial test)
Altogether now!
The ecoflex was kinda sticky, and the mold (a plastic soup
takeout container) had to be sacrificed. The ecoflex is very
flexible, and I found a wall width of 8-10mm can almost
completely cushion the solid edge of the casing when I press
hard against it.
My best cast was a bit off center still (though
not as bad as other iterations) and was thicker
at the top than I preferred. It also did not extend as long as
I wanted, but it was effectve enough in protecting the casing.
Squishy casing applied! (this is the first too-short iteration).
LEDsssss
Result - Could be Improved
The electronics need some work, but the housing is a solid plan, And
I am now pretty certain ecoflex is something I'd like in the final thing. Though it
does tend to attract hairs and dirt...
I'm happy to say I am not done with this
project, and plan to continue development on iy
(with a sparkly twist!)
for a Bad Ideas Weekend project with some friends
on mine...
Onwards!
Mechanical proprties play an iportant role with electrical properties especially since
conductive materials no longer conduct when they're ripped off the
board due to: leading in directions that are not strong, extreme
heat, being sliced off, etc.
Design well! Think about the holes and such needed. Plan for learning
and needing to redo many things.
Molding and Casting is underrated, there are so many faascinating
material properties that exist outside of rigid things. Though an actual mold rather
than using an assortment of cups would be ideal.
