Finished Product
Debut for every product
This is the first time that I have chance to have class in the lab. Maybe all the time that I’ve operated in the lab before this class is about 20 hours. But in this summer, I accumulate almost 100 hours experience in the lab. It’s very precious and beneficial for me. It opens a new door for me-engineer, which is so charming that I want to devote my every day in the lab to make something useful and helpful. During the class, I become understand what does fabrication mean: make things worthful in your mind. I find what I really want to do after this course. I’ll remember it forever.
1. The 1st Circuit
This is a very simple circuit consist of two LEDs and an Arduino UNO. It leads me to the intriguing fabrication world. I still remember how happy I was when I made them work.
2. The 1st Program with Arduino
Within the lab time, the assignment was only making the LED blinking. That’s very easy because you could find the program in the examples of Arduino. After seeing the demo example, I decided to do something more difficult because I’m interested in programming. Fortunately, after taking some time to understand the program, I succeded writing a program that could make them shine in turn, which is how the traffic light work.
void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(3,OUTPUT);
pinMode(5,OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
digitalWrite(3,HIGH);
digitalWrite(5,LOW);
delay(3000);
digitalWrite(3,LOW);
digitalWrite(5,HIGH);
delay(3000);
}
3. Soldering
I heard about soldering before, so I know how it works. But I never operate it in person. Thanks for Andrei’s help, I could my first soldering. It’s not very beautiful because you can see that I didn’t sink the metal into the vacant space into the Pin. Although I didn’t do a good job for my debut, I learnt rapidly and did some “spectacular” soldering later.
Debut
Later Product
4. Sawing
I used to see the saw in my grandpa’s workshop, but I was a kid so that my parents didn’t allow me to use them. Finally, I had a chance in this class to use them to make something in the shape I want. When I used it, I found that my parents’ ban was reasonable because you need to be strong enough to control it. If you cannot control it, it’s very easy to get injuried. I cut some blocks to practice sawing this time.
5. Drilling
This must be my first time to operate the drilling machine since I don’t even see it before. Actually, it’s very easy to operate. You only need to pull down the drill slowly to let it work well. But you need to pay attention to the SAFETY. Remember to turn off the electricity before removing you object from the work table. And you need to measure before drilling to choose the right drill.
6. Glue
Gluing is a little dangerous among the other stuffs we use in the lab. There was an accident when I used the glue. Initially, I wanted to use the super glue and I didn’t wear the gloves. I pressed the glue accidently so that the super glue leaked out to my hand. I immediately feel something bad happened with my hand and tried to threw out the glue. After seperating my hand with the super glue, I can feel that there is a layer of super glue on my finger and you cannot remove it no matter you wash your hand with how much water. Also, you can even see the ink from the lable of the superglue. Everything happened so quickly that only in a few seconds the glue became effective on the surface of my hand. As a result, I cannot do anything but wait and take a shower later. After this accident, I always wear the GLOVES when I use the glue.
For the product, I choose the white glue because the kits are all made of cardboard. The only disadvantage of this is you need to wait for twenty to thirty minutes.
Also, in the image of part 5 about drilling, you can see that the aluminum is plugged into the hole drilled by the machine. To make it more stable, I also use the super glue to adhere them together.
7. Sticker
Firstly, I made this image by myself in the computer. There are two things you need to pay attention:
1.The image should be png image.
2.The colors between the object and the background need to be significant different. You’d better choose white to be the background color.
After making the image, you just need to import it into the lab computer and follow the instruction to operate the Vinyl Cutter.
8. 2D Design
I have no experience in designing and modeling before. Under Nathan’s instruction, I learnt the basic skills to make your design and model. Later I self studied and explored in the Fusion 360. Then I tried to design my own stuff. These are the elements I used in my future construction. The video is the horizontal modeling for the construction in Fusion 360.
9. Laser cutting
Before this class, I visited the physics lab at National University of Singapore and had a glance of the laser cutter. But because I was not the student there, I couldn’t operate it. Now I could use it to make anything I want. Since I’ve already made a circuit of traffic light, I wanted it to be standing instead of laying on the protoboard. So I made some 2D design in the Fusion 360 and used the laser cutter to cut them. After getting the kinds of knits I needed, I constructed my traffic light.
10. Wooden Car
After learning how to saw, drill, and laser cutting, I decided to make a wooden car. The staff I need to do is to saw a wood block to be the body of the car. Later, you need to drill two holes on the block to put in the axle for the wheels. And you can use the laser cutter to cut the wheel since that’s the best machine to cut a circle object. Then you just need to join them with the axles to become a wooden car.
11. Motor
This is the first time I power a motor through the circuit designed by my own. In the past, I just needed to use the battery to power my motor. Moreover, I used the photo transistor to turn on the motor in this circuit. It means that the motor will only rotate when the Green LED works. Through this mechanism, I can prove that the “driver” of my car will not break the traffic rules.
12. 3D Design & Print
I only heard about 3D printing in the television program and news. But in our class it became our assignments. At first, I need to build a 3D model for printing. I thought about this for a long time and finally I decided to print the stadium of FC Barcelona-Camp Nou. It’s a little hard to build a model for stadium, but fortunately I solved the problems. However, from the project of 3D printing, you can still see that there are some flaws. Because I needed to decrease the scale to decrease the time needed to print it, the words in the stadium became very small and hard to print. That’s why they were blurry.
Design
Product
13. Scanning
Actually, scanning is part of 3D design, which is a more convenient way for some objects. For example, if you want to print a statue of someone, it’s very hard for you to build his model in Fusion 360. And even you do that, it’s so difficult for you to catch the human features. But this job is very easy for scanner. You just need to hold the scanner to the people and scan from every direction. Later, the system will generate a model for you. It’s very real. The only disadvantage of this is that it cannot detect the hair so that you need to wear a hat if you don’t want only half your head in the model. With Karan’s help, I succeeded scanning myself. I think the model is actually a twin of me.
14. CNC Milling
Before this class, I have no idea about CNC Milling. This is my first time to know and operate CNC Machine. Basicly, its principle is the same as the 3D printer. Both of them can work in 3 dimentions and create three-dimentional object. As a result, you just need to build your model in Fusion 360 and import it into the computer. Then the computer will automatically calculate how to cut your object. Remember to wear Protection Glasses before using the machine. If you want to make a delicate object, you could modify the step-over. The smaller your step-over is, the more delicate your product is. At teh same time, it will take you more time. I build a model of the hammer of Thor in the Fusion 360 and import it into the CNC machine’s computer. Because the radius of the drill is too big, some features were not cut.
MODEL
HAMMER OF THOR
15. Composite
This is my first time to have a class in composite. Its principle is that one of the material is stretchable and the other is very stiff, so when they combine together, the new product will have the features of both of them: stretchable and stiff. I made my composite with the CNC milled model of hammer of Thor. Because the shape of the hammer is a little weird, it’s a little hard to make the canvas perfectly attach to the model. That’s why there are some flaws in my composite.
16. Buzzer
I don’t know there is buzzer in the lab until we mentioned it in the class. I decided to make some fun with it right after I knew we have it. Music is a struggle for me since I don’t know how to play any instruments. But with this little buzzer, I am able to composite and make some own music. This is the first time that I use buzzer, so I just made a song according to the music socre. You can play the song by clicking the play button.
This is the WEBSITE where I find the accordingly wavelength with each pitch.
You can also download myPROGRAM! for the song.
17. 3D Print Car with Magnet
In my final projects, I need two cars for modeling the traffic system. I tried to make a wooden car, which you saw in the part 10, but it didn’t work very well. I also tried some other ways like metal car. Unfortunately, they were all “aborted”. Finally, I find that I forget the 3D printer, which could help me make anything I want. As a result, I built a model in Fusion 360 and 3d printed the body and wheels separately. To stable the wheels, I use the screws on the axle.
DOWNLOAD the model in Cura.
Modification
As you can see from the image above, I reserved a hole for the thread of the pulley for every car. Later, I found that two threads will tie together at the crossing. As a result, I consulted Rob to find a solution. With his help, I decided to use magnet to pull my car. The principle is using two separate magnets so that when one of it is moving, the other one will follow because of the attraction.
Problem
When I printed my first car, I found that the bottom of the axle is in a mess. After asking Nathan, he told me that that’s because I didn’t choose to use the support in Cura. As a result, I used the support for my second car and it worked.
18. Traffic System
This is my final project! My goal is going to model a traffic system at a crossing. The elements in my project are two protoboards, two DC motors, two cars, and two traffic lights. If you only see the surface of my project, it seems to be very easy. But if you look from the bottom of my project, you will find that all the things complicated are hidden beneath the surface. As I already mentioned above, the power of the car comes from the attractive force of the magnets. By this way, I could control my car in a straight line.