Week 11

Thur, Nov 20 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-20

Wed, Nov 19 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-19

Tues, Nov 18 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-18

Mon, Nov 17  HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-18

I decided to use my current scale after seeing my planned scale on the printers. Creating the full thing at that big a scale would probably 1. be too heavy to hang on a wall, 2. be too large to get working with the robotic parts, and 3. take too long to print.

By keeping my current scale, I can add additional functionality without needing to print new parts. I will add some more components to my design to compensate for this.

I updated my base and base top models to be better looking, be screwed together rather than snap together, and accommodate the servo. I also created another spur gear and model for the servo to interact with the rotator. I added 3 more “sockets” for these internals to be screwed onto a “shell”. I am not sure what it will look like now that my scale and scope has changed, but I should have a lot of freedom to design with these.

Here is how the new base and topper were supposed to assemble. Each of those holes is meant for a screw. The bottom part is to connect the servo to. It it extruded downward a bit to line up the servo head with the gear topper with the rotator’s external gear teeth.

I accidentally extruded the arms of the bottom of the base too close to the inside, preventing the rotator from fitting in the final piece.

The servo with the gear I printed to attach to it lines up with the rotator. If I hadn’t accidentally made the new base with too small an inner diameter, everything would have fit perfectly. In this picture, I filed down two of the arms and snapped off the other 2, however there was still too much friction to properly operate.

Here is the servo gear topper I made. I decided to design it to attach to the existing servo piece rather than replace it, because 1. the 3d printers aren’t high resolution enough to print those interior teeth, and 2. the PLA probably isn’t strong enough to resist stripping with the servo’s movement.

Week 10

Fri, Nov 14 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-14

Servo hat:

6.4mm height

Flared base diameter: 10mm

Flare height: .5

Flare fillet: 0.125

Insert depth: 3.5 mms

Today, my goal is to adjust all my models to be printed in pieces and put together, then assembled at full scale. Many of my design decisions thus far were to accomodate for a 30% scale print (e.g. high thickness, low tolerance). I need to split many of my bigger parts into quarters to fit on the print plates, and redesign them a little to assemble well.

Here is my adjusted and split rotator model. I cut out a quarter of it, and added slots with overhand & underhang. I will print out 4 of these, and they will ideally slot into each other perfectly, only needing adhesive to be turned into a big version of my prototype.

Here is my adjusted design for the drive gear. I have made the gear teeth way smaller, in order to fit with the redesigned rotator. Additionally, I have replicated the slot on the servo hub so that this gear can slot directly onto the servo.

I will probably drop by GCAD the entirety of finals week in order to finish this project, which is not an issue, since my only difficult / real final exams are on Monday.

Fri, Nov 14 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-14

Wed, Nov 12 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-12

Wed, Nov 12 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-12

Week 9

Fri, Nov 7 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-7

I removed the revised base bottom piece from printer GCAD-4 first thing in class. It works perfectly this time, with enough clearance to not touch the outer spurs of the rotator.

I assembled the pieces which finished printing since, with the little end caps for the small gears which keep the rotator in place fitting perfectly to prevent them from falling out.

Everything is fitting together and functioning pretty well (besides the arms, which I will fix today)

I queued 2 simultaneous batches of 6 revised arms to print, so I can have them before class ends.

While those were printing, I redesigned my rotator to have far smaller outer gear spurs, that way it will turn a lot smoother

With the scale I’m working at (30% scale printed prototypes), I’m going to have to split most of the big parts into quarters to print, then glue them together. I might want to model in joinery to make this process easier. I think I will try and finish a perfectly functioning prototype before doing this, as I don’t want to use a ton of PLA and time on the printers just to make a scale version which doesn’t work.

The revised arm model works perfectly. Once the rotator outer gear spur size is adjusted & verified to function, I will add space for a servo and print at full scale.

Fri, Nov 7 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-7

Wed, Nov 5 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-5

First thing I did in class today was remove my prints from the printer. All my parts are now done printing.

Upon assembling, I found a few problems.

1. The base holder was too tight. I forgot to make the inner diameter a little bigger than the outer diameter of the main rotator piece. They fit, but there was so much friction it couldn’t spin. I first thought to use sandpaper, but Mr. Brodie showed me how to use the file to shave off a little & let things spin.
2. The arms can still go both ways. Although it opened fine, I ran into the same issue closing with my first design. The arms would go both ways, not sticking next to each other. To remedy this, I will redesign the arms to be even more angled, so movement in the unintended direction will be impossible.

What works:

The mini interior gear system to hold the rotator in place while keeping the center open worked perfectly.

If I don’t manage to redesign & queue the arms, I will also redesign the rotator part to have smaller gear teeth on the outside. I don’t know what I was thinking making them so big, they are not smooth at all, even without the added friction of the old base bottom piece.

I used the end of class to redesign my arm. Now, the bottom pin should slot into the linear socket without turning, allowing for rotation to be perfectly angles and not go crazy.

Wed, Nov 5 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-5

Mon, Nov 3 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-3

Today at the beginning of class, I prepped, exported, and started printing my new design.

The name displayed is still not showing what I enter, not sure why. I will be able to fully test the system once this print is done. If it works, I will reprint it at a bigger scale.

I ran into some printing issues, so I had to cancel the print. I will troubleshoot with Mr. Brodie.

The picture is not great, but those spots have clear issues.

It seems maybe I was trying to print too much at once. However, there are visible issues with the printing of the stringy diagnostic print it does at the beginning, which is a little worrying. I am watching the prints progress to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Mon, Nov 3  HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-3

Week 8

Thur, Oct 30 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-30

First thing in class today, I retrieved my print from last class. We lost one of the small gears I printed to hold the rotator in place, but thats ok because they are so small the added print time to my next batch will be negligible. The surviving mini gear rotates in the interior teeth of the rotator perfectly, which gives me some confidence that the final mini prototype will function.

I then continued working on the base. It is a little difficult, because I accidentally deleted the pitch circle for the gear I used to add the teeth to the outside of the rotator. I have to either perfectly recreate the gear using Fusion’s gear function again to get another pitch circle, or calculate it myself.

Rotator exterior spur gear pitch circle radius: 208 mm

Rotator spinny thing gear pitch circle radius: 39 mm

Finished the sketches & models for the crank and base.

Update: I am a little bit stupid. My design of the base has slots on the inside for the 4 small gears which are meant to hold the rotator in place to slot into. For this to happen, they would have to magically phase through the arms, which will be in the way no matter the position. I have stopped my print, and will reprint it once I’ve redesigned it to actually work.

I finished remodelling the base, this time with a bottom & top piece to hold the gears for the rotator in place without magic. I designed in a little bit of tolerance for the pieces to fit together, but that might be an issue later, not sure.

Because I didn’t finish it in time to print in class, I think I’ll add a few other quality of life features before dropping by briefly to start the print maybe consult tomorrow.

To-do list for modelling before print:

• Skeletonize the base bottom piece’s handle – it doesn’t have to be solid, will save a little material (and look cool)
• Make the socket for the crank taller to hold it in place better. Not just a cyliner (excess friction), just add another socket held ~10mm above the first one by like 4 pillars which don’t contact the crank’s shaft.

Thur, Oct 30 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-30

Week 7

Fri, Oct 24 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-24

Fri, Oct 24 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-24

Wed, Oct 22 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-22

Today in class, I researched solutions to hold everything in place while leaving the middle of the aperture uncovered. What I came across was using a lot of gears. I spent the rest of class looking into how they worked, and how I can make them in Fusion. I initially modeled one by feel, but then realized there is a lot more which goes into making a gear function than looking vaguely like a gear.

Wed, Oct 22 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-22

Mon, Oct 20  CW – image and description of completed homework- CWDueDate 2025-10-20

It seems the funky movement of the arms isn’t due to the rings being off-center. I’m not sure exactly what is causing it, but the arms are still opening half-way in one direction, then jumping to the other direction to fully open. I think this may be an issue with the way I designed the arms, as they can rotate in either direction. I’m currently thinking I will redesign the arms to be less symmetrical, only allowing for rotation in one direction to keep it smooth / simpler.

Looking at the mechanism in slow motion, it seems the tracks on the top and bottom rings aren’t flowing at the same rate. To operate smoothly, I need them to be at the same stage at the same time. Instead, it seems right now, the top ring is finishing first, turning the arms before the bottom ring is at its end to pull the arms all the way out. This design flaw is also the reason the arms don’t stay near each other 100% of the time. I will redesign the arms and ring slots to better keep pace with each other.

Here is a mockup of what I mean. The left design is the new one, right is the old one. My hope is that with the new design, the arms are already turned a little, so they won’t have the issue of sometimes going the other way before correcting.

I completed designing around this new concept in fusion.

I will add on the teeth and try to test out my idea for keeping the rotator centered without having an outer ring in order to motorize the design in this model, hopefully queueing to print before I leave class.

Mon, Oct 20  HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-20

Week 6

Thur, Oct 16 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-16

I have redesigned the bottom of the hook to connect to the body of the arm better. I anticipate this will prevent the hook from snapping off when removing supports, and increase durability when the mechanism is used.

This revision is printing now.

This redesign was successful in making the hooks survive support removal, however the hooks both add too much friction to smoothly operate the aperture and are not durable. They broke in testing.

The other reason for the aperture not opening / closing smoothly I can think of is the top part not being centered. There is nothing holding it in the center, so while opening / closing, it moves around before settling back in the center. I think this might be a cause for the unsmooth operation, so I designed a case to hold the top part in the center while moving.

It is currently printing.

This part is temporary to see if the top frame not staying centered is the cause of the arms going wild when opening and closing. I am planning how this design will be manufactured in its final form. If holding the top frame centered does solve the problem, I won’t have to worry about it, as the final plan (as of right now) will have gears holding the top frame in place.

While waiting for things to print, I started grabbing the stuff I will need in the final design, which will open and close itself autonomously. Right now, I think I will be using a servo for rotational power. I screwed a servo hub to a spur gear, which I think I’ll be using to turn the top frame.

Right now, I’m planning to add teeth onto the top frame so the spur gear connected to the servo can turn it, opening and closing the aperture. I might try to CNC it out of metal, as I don’t know how a 3d printed gear would fare meshed with a metal one.

I have plans for how to keep the gear centered without something going through the center, but I’m not sure if they are viable.

Right now, I’m thinking of having teeth on the interior edge of the top holder, and 2 small gears to hold it in place, pictured below.

Thur, Oct 16 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-16

Tues, Oct 14 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-14

Today in class, I focused on improving my current prototype design.

Right now, it is functioning ok in translating the rotation of the upper part to the arms opening and closing, however opening / closing slowly has some issues. These issues are due to the arms not keeping tension on each other. I thought when opening & closing, each arm would be pushed by the one next to it into the arm on its other side, keeping everything smooth, however this is not the case.

My solution to this is designing a hook and sliding socket onto each arm to link each arm together while still maintaining movement.

I printed it out, however the current design for the hook is not solid enough. It snaps off extremely easily, so I will need to redesign it, integrating it to the main body of the arm better.

Tues, Oct 14 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-10-14

Week 5

Fri, Oct 10 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-10

Today, I retrieved my 2nd 3d print. My adjustments seem to have been a success; it functions pretty well, even with only half of the arms. I immediately queued the other half of the arms to print, which should complete before the end of class.

Fri, Oct 10 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-10

Wed, Oct 8 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-8

Today, I retrieved my 3d print. It had some clear issues which I will adjust for, then reprint.

1. Excess friction between pins and sockets – My previous iteration had the pins the exact size of the sockets. I will adjust it to make the pins a little smaller
2. Difficulty in moving / fragility – I printed my first prototype too small. The pieces are far too thin. Just like the cardboard, parts would rather flex than move. I will adjust the thickness of my parts to be thicker, as well as printing them at a bigger scale.

I doubled the thickness of every part, and reduced the diameter of the pins on each arm from 10mm (exact fit) to 9mm, adding a little bit of wiggle room so parts aren’t too stuck together.

Wed, Oct 8 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-8

Mon, Oct 6  CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-6

I decided to 3D print my next prototype rather than cutting it out of wood and screwing it together. I chose this for two reasons:

1. Wood has a lot of friction across faces, which will make the design hard to move
2. The screws need a nut on the other side of whatever they are fastening, whereas I can just model nubs and holes to 3d print on one side.

I remodeled the design, moving the middle nub to the edge to make each arm a little more even, and to make the difference between the two bigger, so when they move apart, hopefully they split better.

Mon, Oct 6  HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-6

Week 4

Fri, Oct 3 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-3

Today at the beginning of class, I finished assembling the new self-opening mechanism.

I ran into 2 big issues when assembling, which made my current design not work:

1. Cardboard warping

When I tightened the screws, rather than making everything tight, the arms would just bend diagonally. My design relies on every arm being next to each other, so none can overlap. This tilting meant arms were going over each other.

2. Screws being slightly too long

My current design relies on the screws & nuts being an exact length in order to put tension on the arms from both frames.

This design failed both because the cardboard was warped by the tension rather than held in place, and because the design itself makes each arm want to settle diagonally, relying on the material to not warp.

I will redesign my aperture mechanism to distribute tension more evenly across each arm. As it is now, one screw hole is on an edge, and the other is in the center. I suspect moving the center hole to the other edge to make it even would both help balance tension and make the paths for each screw to travel more distinct from each other, preventing slippage.

Fri, Oct 3 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-3

Tues, Sept 30 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-30

Tues, Sept 30 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-30

Week 3

Fri, Sept 26 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-26

Today in class, I continued fabricating a prototype. I took a small part of my design to continuously test settings on to find how much speed / power is just enough to cut through the cardboard fully without burning it.

With the new settings, I cut out all my parts.

I was originally planning to connect each triangle to the frame via cardboard, however they were too small to cut out of the corrugated stuff. I tried wood, but they just fell through the grate in the laser cutter. I found some screws that were the perfect size, and assembled the prototype with them. Although it does not open and close with rotation yet, the parts do fit together.

Fri, Sept 26 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-26

For homework, I looked more into how the shutter mechanism translates the rotation of one part into opening and closing. My current design should open and close, however it isn’t smooth / auto-aligned yet. It seems in addition to a curved path for each triangle piece to go along, there needs to be a guide to rotate each one as it moves. Image below. I will keep this in mind, and design one to add to my current design if my prototype proves to work.

Wed, Sept 24 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-24

In class today, I created a prototype mechanism in Fusion 360. I used joints to see how it would work, but I accidentally modeled the paths the wrong way. I flipped the ring with the paths for each triangle when exporting for rhino, so it shouldn’t be an issue in the physical prototype. I attempted to cut out the cardboard prototype in class, but it failed to cut all the way through. I will cut out and assemble the prototype first thing in class next time.

Wed, Sept 24 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-24

For homework today, I designed a shutter mechanism in blender to see how it works. In class, I will do it in Fusion.

Mon, Sept 22  CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-22

I decided on exactly what I want my artwork to do and represent. I will have the camera shutter mechanism in front of a light, so the shutter can adjust the spread of the light. I will integrate a sound sensor to have it open and close based on noise. The artwork itself will represent privacy in the technology age, with the light turning on and “waking up” whenever you make noise. I worked on potential designs for a “shell” to house the internal electronics and add to the motif.

Today in class, I came up with some designs. I tested some designs in blender and drew out one.

Mon, Sept 22  HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-22

For homework, I looked into mechanisms I could use in a mechanical artwork. I liked the camera shutter type mechanism of the metal sculpture I found in class, so I looked into how those worked, and it doesn’t look prohibitively complex. I think if possible, it would be cool to make something that reacts to the environment, whether it be based on auditory, visual, or some other type of input, like the shy robot I found in class.

Below are some of the images I found while researching these mechanisms

Week 2

Fri, Sept 19 CW – Image and description of completed homework. – CWDueDate 2025-9-19

Today in class, I looked into potentially making a piece of artwork for my independent project. I looked for past examples, and found Ethan Camin’s kinetic sand & smart mirror projects. I think a mechanical sculpture / artwork like his sand table would be cool, so I looked more into mechanical sculptures. Some interesting projects I found were:
This cool camera aperture looking sculpture

This “shy robot” which opens and closes based on ambient noise

I think I want to design an art piece which moves, and uses light like these pieces do.

Fri, Sept 19 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-19

I dropped by GCAD during consult to discuss potential ideas. I think I will be doing an art design, as I can’t think of any issues to help with that would prompt a complex enough design. The air conditioner idea was not complex enough. I will continue brainstorming.

Wed, Sept 17 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-17

Unfortunately, we can’t make something to go near the radiator. In class today, I brainstormed more ideas for my independent project. Something promising I came up with was designing something to make emptying the water from my double’s air conditioner easier. Currently, we have to unplug it, take the vent off, and wheel it all the way to the bathroom to empty it, and it fills up in like 15 minutes. I don’t know if this qualifies for design thinking because it is my problem as well as my roommates, but the design would be more complex than a desktop organizer. I sent Mr. Brodie an email with this idea in case we didn’t have a chance to talk in class.

Wed, Sept 17 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-17

For homework, I interviewed my roommate and took pictures of the gap between his desk and windowsill in order to see if it was possible to fit something there.

1. What objects on your desk do you not have a place for?
   • Cables & surge protector behind desk which might get damaged by heat from radiator
   • Office supplies (stapler, sticky notes, markers)on desk & drawer to organize
   • Decorations on desk that tip over a lot and get in the way.
2. Are there things you have you think aren’t organized enough / you would want to put on your desk?
   • Scissors in pencil holder on desk which tip over if put in handle up.
3. What general purpose do you need a bridge like this to fulfill? (decorative / display vs. organization)
   • Mostly decorative / display. I want it to have a shelf so I can put the items I want to display while not getting in my way on my desk.
4. Are there any other constraints or requirements you need fulfilled by the organizer?
   • Aside from not catch on fire from the radiator, no.
5. Do you have a theme in mind?
   • Not really. It’d be nice if it matched the wood of my desk and dresser, but I don’t really care.
6. How much personalization would you like?
   • Not much. Don’t want it to distract from the objects put in it.

Week 1

Fri, Sept 12 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-12

Failed to really analyze the empathize step in the design process for my first idea, so it was rejected. Brainstormed a new idea in working doc – designing something to bridge the gap between my roommate’s windowsill and desk, which are separated by his heat radiator. Need to interview him and relay an image of the layout to Mr. Brodie. This idea seems a lot more promising.

Fri, Sept 12 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-9-12

Waited for feedback from Mr. Brodie on original project idea.

Wed, Sept 10 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-10

Today, I researched & fleshed out my first project idea in the working doc. Finalized empathize and define steps on project idea 1, pitched to Mr. Brodie for approval at the end of class.

Wed, Sept 10 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-10

Chose a project idea & began design thinking process in working project doc

Mon, Sept 8  CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-10

Today, I talked with Mr. Brodie about what I will be doing in class. I decided to work on an independent project. I then brainstormed some initial ideas for my independent project in my working project document.

Mon, Sept 8  HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-8

Today, I watched the assigned videos and looked at the canvas page for homework.

Week 0

Sat, Aug 16 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-8-16

Sat, Aug 16 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-8-16

Sun, Aug 17 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-8-17

Sun, Aug 17 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-8-17