Fab Academy 2017

Let The Adventure begin

Week 1:

Principles and Practices, Project Management

Work through a GIT tutorial Build a personal site in the class archive describing you and your final project...

Week 2:

Computer-Aided Design

Model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate...)
a possible final project, and post it on your class page...

Week 3:

Computer-Controlled Cutting

Group assignment:

Make lasercutter test part(s), varying cutting settings and slot dimensions

Individual assignment:

Cut something on the vinylcutter design, make, and document a parametric press-fit construction kit, accounting for the lasercutter kerf, which can be assembled in multiple ways...

Week 4:

Electronics Production

Make an in-circuit programmer by milling the PCB,
then optionally trying other processes USB power/make clean/make hex/make fuse/make program/make IDC ISP cable programming...

Week 5:

3D Scanning and Printing

Group assignment:

test the design rules for your printer(s)

Individual assignment:

Design and 3D print an object (small, few cm) that could not be made subtractively
3D scan an object (and optionally print it) (extra credit: make your own scanner)...

Week 6:

Electronics Design

Redraw the echo hello-world board, add (at least) a button and LED (with current-limiting resistor) check the design rules, make it, and test it...

Week 7:

Computer-Controlled Machining

Make something big...

Week 8:

Embedded Programming

Read a microcontroller data sheet
Program your board to do something, with as many different programming languages and programming environments as possible...

Week 9:

Mechanical Design

Group assignment:

Design a machine (mechanism+automation), including the end effector Build the passive parts and operate it manually

Individual assignment:

Document the group project and your individual contribution...

Week 10:

Output Devices

Add an output device to a microcontroller board you've designed and program it to do something...

Week 11:

Machine Design

Group assignment:

Automate your machine

Individual assignment:

Document the group project and your individual contribution...

Week 12:

Molding and Casting

Design a 3D mold, machine it, and use it to cast parts...

Week 13:

Input Devices

Measure something:
Add a sensor to a microcontroller board that you have designed and read it...

Week 14:

Composites

Read the material safety data sheet (MSDS) and technical data sheet (TDS) for the resins that you're using.
Design and fabricate a 3D mold (~ft2) and produce a fiber composite part in it...

Week 15:

Networking and Communications

Design and build a wired &/or wireless network connecting at least two processors...

Week 16:

Interface and Application Programming

Write an application that interfaces with an input &/or output device that you made, comparing as many tool options as possible...

Week 17:

Applications and Implications

Propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered, answering:

What will it do?
Who's done what beforehand?
What materials and components will be required?
Where will they come from?
How much will it cost?
What parts and systems will be made?
What processes will be used?
What tasks need to be completed?
What questions need to be answered?
What is the schedule?
How will it be evaluated?

Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the range of skills covered
Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project...

Week 18:

Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income

Develop a plan for dissemination of your final project
Prepare a summary slide (presentation.png, 1280x1024) and video clip (presentation.mp4, 1080p HTML5, ~minute, ~10 MB) in your root directory...

Week 19:

Project Development

Complete your final project, tracking your progress:

What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?
What has worked? what hasn't?
What questions need to be resolved?
What will happen when?
What have you learned?
Documentation during development, demand- vs supply-side time management, spiral development, system integration & finish...

Final Project

Final project proposal

Presentation and description of my final project. An interactive board game base on the familiar Rush Hour game.

Final Project

The story of my project

With every week passing by I'd try to develop my final project. On this page I'm linking to every exercise that I worked during the course on my game. This is the story of my project.