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###Week8: Molding and Casting
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###Design concept
Initially the idea is about creating a shoe that has multiple sensors on the sole that can sense the pressure of different areas, while the output will be music.
To do so, Nathan recommended me to start from capacitance sensing. With certain distance (silicone) in between two copper plate, when the distance changes,
the capacitance changes, and we can set a threshold to detect the pressure.
<img src="00_Design/1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="00_Design/2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
<img src="00_Design/3.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="00_Design/4.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
###Remelt wax block
Since the wax blocks we have in the lab are all too small for me, so I need to remelt several wax blocks to make a bigger one.
The takeaway from melting this kind of wax is using the oven at your home is a lot more efficient than the using oven.
However, I would suggest using the pot that you don't care too much as the wax is very very very hard to clean up afterward.
<img src="02_WaxBox/combine.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="1000"/>
###Laser cut
Not knowing that the copper can't be cut by laser cut due to the reflection, laser cutter is the first approach that I tried to cut the shape.
I learned not everything can be cut by laser cut, and felf very sorry about my clumsy behaviors, I should have asked Nathan first if I never cut this material before.
<img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/LaserCut.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="1000"/>
###Vinyl cut
Vinyl cut is apparently the right way to cut copper.
<img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/Mods_Vinyl.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="1000"/>
###Computer aided design
Basically this piece contains multiple processes. First, the sensor: two copper plates attach to silicone, my ideal way of combining them is cast three components together.
Second, cast the copper-embedded sensors to entire sole.
<img src="01_CAD/materia%20flow.gif" alt="strandbeest" width="1000"/>
###3D printing
This is a primary test, which I didn't really incopertate the two process properly, rather, focusing on fabricating the sensors (the first step).
<img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/0.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
<img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/2.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/3.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
<img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/4-1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="300"/> <img src="03_3Dprint_Vinyl/4-2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="700"/>
###CNC Milling
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####Aspire
Before doing the milling work, we need to generate tool path first, such as those slicing processes before 3D printing.
<a href="https://www.vectric.com/products/aspire">Aspire</a> is a software that can generate both 2D and 3D tool path, and give as sbp file for <a href="https://www.shopbottools.com/products/software">Shopbot</a> to operate.
<img src="04_CNCmilling/Aspire.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="1000"/>
####Shopbot
1/ Testing
We did a air cut (above Z=0), to see if the tool path is correct, then we did a rough cut.
<img src="04_CNCmilling/t2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="333"/> <img src="04_CNCmilling/t3.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="333"/> <img src="04_CNCmilling/t4.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="330"/>
2/ Change drill beds
It's necessary to change thedrill beds to fit both the rough and fine cuts. 1/8' is for rough cut, while 1/16' is for fine cut.
<img src="04_CNCmilling/d1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="04_CNCmilling/d2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
3/ Double side cutting
Due to the reason not wasting materials, I did a double-sided cut to make most use of the wax block.
<img src="04_CNCmilling/f1.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="04_CNCmilling/f3.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
###Casting
It turned out that the copper is not able to attach to the silicone properly by this procedure. They are very easily to fall apart.
Plus, the material that I used seemed not the right one, as it can never be cured. In the end, the sole is not completely dried.
Also, with the wire, things get more complicated. Since the copperplate is easy to flip (=not bind,stick to silicone), so I can solder the wires after casting, which totally makes no sense.
Apparently I need to consider more details and redesign the processes.
<img src="05_Casting/m1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m3.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m4.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/>
<img src="05_Casting/m5.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m6.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m7.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/> <img src="05_Casting/m8.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="250"/>
<img src="05_Casting/c1.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="260"/> <img src="05_Casting/c2.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="260"/> <img src="05_Casting/c3.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="460"/>
<img src="05_Casting/c4.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="350"/> <img src="05_Casting/c5.JPG" alt="strandbeest" width="620"/>
<img src="05_Casting/components.gif" alt="strandbeest" width="980"/>
<img src="05_Casting/r6_copy.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/> <img src="05_Casting/r7_copy.jpg" alt="strandbeest" width="500"/>
###Group project
<a href='https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MAS.863/Harvard/people/harvard-group-work/weeks/group-week8.html'>Group project documentation </a>
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