FINAL PROJECT

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FINAL PROJECT

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

1. DESIGN

From the beginning of FabAcademy I knew that I wanted to make a lamp as final project. In the last weeks I decided that it would be a pendant lamp so I started to explore the design.

I tried vertically disks that would move if the sensors detected movement.

I was not convinced by the forms that were generated of this movement so I decided to change the design.

I began to draw ideas of design and mechanism

Which led me to a design of suspended rings. These rings would consist of 3mm mdf rings and 6mm transparent acrylic rings. I made the drawings in AutoCad and cut the parts according to the formats that we have in the FabLabEsan which are 30 x 60cm.

These are the drawings of the acrylic circles. For each ring there are two thinner rings of acrylic, between both of them will be the LED strip.

Each ring is held by 04 points. For this I needed two axes each one would hold two points. This generated different lengths of fasteners of axis and motors but same diameter of pulleys since they would rise the same distance.

I also prepared plans simulating the general assembly to know where the cables would pass. For each ring 8 cables went through making a total of 56 cables.

The vernier was a tool that I used often. Tha lamp had two different aluminum axes with different inside diameter for passing different amounts of cables.

Through the narrower axis pass the two cables of the white LED (outer discs) tape. Through the widest axis pass the 04 cables of the RGD LED (inside the discs)

It was also important to measure the diameter of the DC motor in order to design the supports and prevent the entire motor from turning.

The vernier also helped me to measure the height of the center of each motor to the platform of support because both motors are at different heights and the axis that turns in the motor is not centered.

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2. MAKING OFF

I used the Trotec laser cutter for 6mm acrylic pieces because this machine cut this material in a very precise way.

Optimize the maximum of each acrylic board to obtain the least amount of waste.

In the laser cutter Epilog I cut the discs of Mdf 3mm.

In the Modela I milled the two Hall Effect Boards that I would use like input

This is the traces file for the Hall Effect board. The board is very small.

This is the file to cut the board.

There is a computer connected to the Modela that has access to the FabModules from the terminal. First we mill the traces.

All this takes about 4 minutes and cutting the card takes almost 2 minutes.

In used the Modela to make the Relay Board that would serve like an input

This is the Trace file for the Relay board. I made the perforations with the dremel.

This is the cut file for the board. It is an elongated card, uses two relay. To this board the LED strip (RGB) will be connected.

Milling the traces takes about 10 minutes.

Then we cut the board that takes about 5 minutes.

In the Modela I milled the two H Bridge Boards that I would use as output.

This is the traces fill for the H Bridge board. I took as reference the board of Gonzalo Siu (former Academy Student) and Edwin Motte (current Academy Student)

This is the cut file. It's the biggest card I made in this project. I made two cards but at the end just use 1.

Milling this board took little more than 18 minutes.

Cutting the card took about 9 minutes

My companions helped me to remove the 12mm mdf board that I would use to create the support of the whole mechanism.

This support consisted of two mdf disks that would hide all the mechanics and cables. This would be hidden in the ceiling.

In the Shopbot I cut the pieces.

I used 3d printing to make the pulleys, axis holders and motor support.

Each set of 4 pieces took me 2 hours of impression in 3D BCN, a total of 12 hours.

I also used the Makerbot to print in parallel and save time.

Unfortunately the filament was entangled and this made me lose time because I had to start again these pieces in 3D BCN (3d printer)

I changed to another Makerbot printer and something similar happened, so I could not use two machines in parallel. Makerbot printers must be maintained.

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3. ASSEMBLY

Since I already had all the pieces I needed I started to assemble them. I used screws to keep all parts in place.

Each disc worked as a sandwich with two layers of mdf 3mm on the outside and two layers of transparent acrylic 6mm inside.

On the outside of the acrylic discs I placed white LED strip. By the inside RGB LED strip.

That's how it all looked together to this point. I just fixed it with masking tape blue to see if I have to change anything.

Finally I placed the last layer of mdf and secure the screws. The finished discs looked like this.

I had to solder wires to each end of each LED strip. The white LED strip only had two points: VCC and GND The RGB LED strip had four dots: Blue, Red, Green and VCC

I went to buy cables, the most resistant and thin possible.

Once soldered the components I started to pass the cables through the inside of each ring. (I had to disassemble them, put the LED strip back with the soldered wires and re-close each disk)

The assembly was simple but took a lot of time for the number of steps to complete.

Then I put the bracket to the ceiling. I placed the axes in cross and passed the axle supports and pulleys. I placed the engine mounts and fixed everything to the mdf base.

Then I drilled a small hole with the Dremel so that the wires of the LED strips could reach the power source.

The cables had to go through the slots to reach the disks.

I used different accessories that allowed to keep the cables in order and that nothing would be entangled

I hung the lamp of a metal beam inside the FabLabEsan using metal chains with the help of Jorge Valerio who helped me a lot during these process. He is a former FabAcademy student. You can view his webpage here.

First I hung the top support to stretch the cables and finish ordering them.

Axles and accessories worked without problem

In this image the 56 cables had already passed by where it corresponded.

So I started tying them and / or cutting them in case they were very long.

Finally, each disk ended in its position.

As the top would be hidden in the ceiling, I lined the edge with duplex paper. In this image I was still making tests so the black taper is seen.

The cables that hold each disk are the cables that connect to the power source, so we avoid having more elements that can harm the design.

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4. PROGRAMMING

To program my boards, I used my Fabduino from week 8. You can click on the lower icon to go to the page of week 8.

H-Bridge with components.

H-Bridge board connected.

Relay board with components.

Hall Effect sensor board.

These are all the boards I use in my electric project. Fabduino (microcontroller) Pir sensor (input) Hall Effect sensor (input) Relay board (output) H-bridge board (output)

Electrical scheme of operation of the project.

I did the tests connecting the boards to an Arduino One, then connect all the cables to the Fabduino (microcontroller)

Connecting the cables to my Fabduino (microcontroller)

Power Source.

All cables connected!

Zoom to the Fabduino connected to the boards and to the FTDI.

First I did a program to test the lights. The RGB LED strip was connected to the Relay Board.

I also tested with Hall Effect sensors. I had one to work as a climb and another that worked as a stop.

The PIR sensor comes with its own board but I tested to see how it works.

I also tested both engines, up and down.

I had to test the engines to have the correct speed of ascent (240) and descent (160)

The final programming united all the mentioned parts. It all started on the PIR sensor that sensed movement around. With this the LED lights came on and the disks began to rise.

Until they reached the top of the Hall Effect sensor and then started to move down to the next Hall Effect sensor.

With the serial port you could test whether the PIR sensor was detecting or not moving.

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5. TESTING

The LED stripes were tested at 12 volts and 3.00 amps, each strip separately.

This was the internal LED strip..

This was the appearance of the outer LED strip

I tested the outside lights on each disk before attaching the cables.

I also tried the RGB LED strip.

This view shows the central location of the PIR sensor, the mdf blocked some angles otherwise the sensor would activate with any movement nearby. This was it only activated if someone was under the lamp.

I tried the DC motors with the disks hanging. The discs have some tolerance not to hit each other.

I placed two prisoners for each pulley and this kept the pulleys from moving.

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6. F+LIGHT

This is the final view of the object with the exterior lights on.

Colored lights come out of the inside LED strips.

Some disks were uneven when the FabLab staff moved my lamp. I had to regulated them again.

In this image we see one of the Hall Effects and the magnet.

Different changes of color on the RGB LED strips.

The moving discs make the lamp change shape and appear even lighter.

This is a view of the moving discs but with the lights turned off to see the detail.

When the discs came down, they were at one point in time.

The wires were held tight because they were pulled by pulleys but I think I could braid them to make them look better.

View from below the lamp.

Bottom side view. Neil advised me that the movement of the rings could be related to the hours of the day and is something that I definitely want to try with more time.

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7. BOM

SLIDE

WEEK 8

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