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- Propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered.
Class material: Applications and Implications
There is a full subject in Wikipedia about coffee preparation. Among all this methods of preparation, I intend to succeed in vacuum coffee style. It is very hard to achieve that, as I learn during FabAcademy, because filtering is critical and find the right filtering system to adapt in my project was dificult. Besides my efforts, the right filtering is still missing. I failed to extract coffee from vacuum, but could make tea properly with my creation. :-)
People that would like to make its own coffee maker will be, in my opinio, ritual related. I want to say by this that people like me and others with the same aim for building a coffee maker take the pause for a coffee as ritual for preparation, patience and joy while drinking it. This project is not about making things easier, it is about making a ritual more intense, to have more to talk about it, to have other things relating to it... All of that expands the experience of having a coffee; and I like this idea pretty much.
* what will it do? I intend to do a coffee maker. I manage to do the heat actuator, its control system and user interface. I also manage to do the cork that puts together two glass parts. Because of filter and pression issues, I made no coffee yet.
* who's done what beforehand? My tutor Kenzo has done I2C LCD display output device beforehand and I took his project to be part of mine. FabKit04 microcontroler board; thermosensor and USBtinyISP programmer were also made before by FabLab community.
Later notes on this question: I suggest this link as an inicial extra reference besides Wikipedia. Tere is a whole Earth drinking coffee nowadays. It is one of the more important drinks regarding studies, business and small talks.
* what materials and components will be required? BOM will be provided below.
* where will they come from? Eletronics - SMD - were supplied by DigiKey retail from USA. Heat actuator is a national product - made in Brazil - and the same regards the glass parts, silicone and rock.
* how much will it cost? I estimate the final cost around BRL 300,00 ~ USD 90.00.
* what parts and systems will be made? The user interface will be made: keyboard and LCD display integration. It also will be made: the relay heat actuator control board; the microcontroler board; the silicone cork for glass assembly and the cutomization of a rock block as a bed for the whole system.
* what processes will be used? The processes that will be used are: programming, output devices, input devices, microcontroler board, mold and casting, computer-controlled machining and laser cut.
* what tasks need to be completed? The coffee maker needs a pression vase to work properly. The filter has to catch the water droplets but let steam flow through it. I couldn't find this filter neither build one. Unfortunately, only a poor coffee was made with my equipment yet.
* At this point, the task list was: Thermosensor calibration; networking (buttons, thermosensor, LCD display and heat actuator); hanger (I haven't done this one); heat actuator model and control - relay boad; cork; assembling everything; rock bed; testing; documentation and upload all this to my website.
* what questions need to be answered? How am I going to control the heat actuator; include (or not) thermosensor as a control input to the system and check if acrilyc is heat resistent or not (I found out it is not very good to be heated).
Later notes on this question: I need to learn what is a proper documentation. As I have done, it is ok for me to recover the whole list and build things. It is still missing to me describe in a better way what to do in a basic sense.
* what is the schedule? Work anytime as possible. Managing the lab and working inside it is tricky.
Later notes on this question: documentation always needs improvement. This is the saga. It seems to me I will always need more time to fix documentation gaps...
* how will it be evaluated? Our tutor Kenzo has a systemic aproach to our course development and final project. He is giving us feedback all the time. In this sense, we are being evaluated by our website increment every week. He also describes the tasks we do as enough or not to complete the assignment.
Besides that, we are being evaluated by the development of a final project, weekly assignments done and a website that documents everything.
Later notes on this question: the main part of my project is working. As I have a very customized coffee machine, there is no filter available in any market place. I uderstand my evolution and project development are very good. The system integration worked properly. My worst issue is to make good documentation of it. Neil said many times to focus on what is meaninful for each one and develop what you think it is your weakness. My weakness, at the end of everything, is documentation - and there is no week assignment to explain and train for that. Besides that, I got aprouval (from Neil) about my project development and will try to describe its parts as best as I can.
* I bought for this project: the glass vases, the heat actuator resistence and coffee.
* I was given as donation the rock.
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