Final Fabrication

3D printing is an amazing technology that has been out since the late 1980's, but has not been pioneered until recently. This technology is still pretty expensive, yet there are still lots of flaws with 3D printing. For example, the creation of a simple Frisbee can probably take a few hours and can be very costly. However, 3D printing is great for making one-off products or prototypes because it can literally make anything as long as you have the instructions for it (CAD formats).

For this project I took on the idea of making my final something I can use, so I decided on creating a phone mount for my bike. I had to measure and draw out the dimensions for my mount that was originally meant for my flashlight, and I made the design in Inventor. I took a OnePlus One case design from the internet because I do not know how to measure the angle of the back of my phone to fit my phone. I created the STL file and I had Fictiv fabricate this for me. At first there a few problems, like dimensions (Inventor turned the design into cm instead of mm) and I had no idea what material to use, but the guy at Fictiv recommended PLA since it was the cheapest and it printed fast.

The 3D printed took about 3 days to make and 2 days to ship. The total cost of all of this was $32.07. During the printing process, the guys at Fictiv realized that PLA was probably not the best material for this because the print was rough and inaccurate. They recommended ABS as the material to use, but I told them to keep using PLA because I was not willing to spend more money on the material and the faster shipping in order to showcase my design on the day of the final.

I had Paras fabricate my product. To be honest, I didn't expect much because making a phone case that fits my phone and a mount that fits my bike mount is extremely hard due to the exact dimensions required for everything to work. However after looking at the finished product, I decided that 3D printers are probably best for jobs that require such accuracy and precision. However for objects with little functionality (like an icosahedron) it would probably be more practical for a human to fabricate it because it would be faster to make and cost much less. Work drawings are very vital to communicate the design of the product, but I think that the finished STL file or CAD file is much better. Programs like inventor can open these files and you can take a 360 view around the object, and you can also measure wherever you need, whereas on the drawing you fully depend on the views and measurements that the creator provides you with. Animated assemblies shows all parts of the assembly and gives the fabricator a better understanding on how the part comes together. Beyond the design process, it just looks cool for the consumer to look at and it could probably also show the consumer on how the part came together.

Maker Faire Reflection Post

Maker Faire of last weekend was definitely unforgettable. Not only were there tons of creations showcased there, we were part of the many people who showed off what they can make. I think our showcase design was especially good, because we had three running computers which had the game. Even then, there were still people lining up to play Adrastus. I think the idea of the projector was great, because we could show the crowd what's going on. However, I think that we should've had shift patterns for the people who were there at Maker Faire, because I was working really hard on Saturday, and by Sunday I had already been tired out and didn't do much that day. Also, I think that we should get more help from the school rather than depend on the student's equipment to run the game. Not all students have projectors, tv screens, or laptops, and we were blessed to have all these equipment. The other booths at Maker Faire are very inspirational, and I think we can improve ourselves on it next year. We could have robots that could grab other people's attention. From the survey, I see that many people would not play the game again, but its nice to know that people are pretty amazed at what we accomplished in two month's time. Next year, I would like to see better graphics, an earlier start on the project, and more teamwork. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures or document while at Maker Faire. At our showcase, many people asked questions about the program and how we built the game. They were especially amazed at how fast we put together the game, and the fact that we are high schoolers. It is amazing to see the number of people who do not know the WASD controls, which is pretty much the basics of gaming.

Maker Faire Showcase Concept

My design for our showcase at Maker Faire includes two laptops with the objective/rules of the game next to the laptops, and a trifold poster behind the laptops. On the table, there will be things we did in this class, so we actually showcase our class as a whole, not just the game. If needed, we can use speakers (that I'm willing to provide) for one of the computers to play the sounds out loud. Austyn told me that he might bring a TV, and I think it would fit perfectly in the back.

My role on this team was to sort of over-watch and keep an eye on everyone's work. I do my best to help whatever team that needs help, but most importantly, I over-watched the progress of the game. My contributions include: helping the audio team with the music, CAD'ing the dock, help figure out the problem with water, and many more. Ultimately, I provided my personal opinions for whatever we were working on. From the beginning to end, I feel as if my job stayed as constant overviewing of the project, and helping out others, although many times I did get carried off doing things I shouldn't be doing during our valuable class time.

Nonetheless, our team pulled off the game, which is pretty much done now, with just some aesthetics changes and debugging. Our team did a great job on giving each other feedback on any ideas brought up. Some of our jobs may have not been what we have originally intended, but we still pulled off this amazing game in about 2 months.

The only wish I have that would have made our process much faster was if we were able to work on multiple computers for a single file, like a Google Doc, but for Unity. Because we could only work on this on one computer per level, the entire level is pretty much limited to two people, slowing down our design process.

To be honest, I am not sure of my greatest achievement, but the first thing to come out my mind is creating the Facebook group for our entire class to share ideas and comment. I think this really helped with our communication outside of school, so we knew what to do before we get to class. It has only been a month and a half since the group was set up and we have been filling the group with updates on our progress.

Maker Faire Reflection

This week I CAD'd the dock for our game with the help of Ryan. It wasn't too hard, and we ran into a few problems along the way but within two days we finished the dock.

In addition, I created a survey for people to vote what they want on the Intro to Design T-shirt at Maker Faire. The results is that we will be having a black, professionally made shirt with Sonia's design. However, there will be a few changes made on the shirt design in general, like coloring and the names on the back.

Maker Faire Update 2

This week I helped out Austin with figuring out how to add water onto the map. I looked up videos on Youtube and found out that there's a program called "Water4Simple" which has waves. In addition, I tried helping out audio team with the music on the piano, but they said they didn't need me. Looking at the T-shirt design, I believe that it's a great idea, but minor improvement's can be made on Sonia's design of the shirt.

Reflection Post on this week's work for game

This week I helped the audio team with the music they had in mind. They chose to have Lacie's Melody for our game, and wanted it on piano due to copyright reasons. Using a sheet music from a site online, I played it. In addition, I tried helping with problems we had on inventor for the level designer of the coliseum, but the problems with drawing a 2D sketch on a curved surface and making a circular pattern with an extruded part remains.

Maker Faire Application

I think the job that I would do best in is oversight, because I love to work on projects in general and I enjoy working with people and solving problems. In robotics club, I often find myself working with other people and working together to make the best robot for our need. As oversight, I will be working with everyone and making sure everything gets done on time, while also helping everyone find solutions to problems we run into.

Dimensioning Standards Reflection Post

note* the measurements are in inches, but was designed in cm

Size dimensions show the width, length, and depth of an object, while location dimensions depicts where edges appear on an object.
Chain dimensioning is where the length of one side is determined from one point connected to another, then the other point connecting to a different one, and so on. Datum dimensioning is where all measures are determined from one point on the object. Datum dimensioning is probably the more common practice of dimensioning since there is only one point to base the data off of, so it will be more accurate.
A dimensioned drawing gives a kind of a physical representation of the object desired, while a written description may give exact details of lengths of parts or shapes on all sides of the item, but it is only an idea. They are similar since they describe the same object, and both explains it with detail regarding the object desired. Both communicate the shapes and design wanted.

SpaceX: Interview with Jessica Pauley

The interview was very educational, with Jessica Pauley telling us about her daily life, like having up to 60 hours per week working for SpaceX, and processes that engineers in general go through while developing something. One notable thing was that admitting failure was something that should be done if there is an error, but a solution should also be presented. She also goes into history, like journey to the moon, which affected us greatly, since it introduced nanotechnology. A memorable remark is when she decided that her job is like pistachio ice cream, since it isn't what you expect, and it isn't necessarily what you want at first, but it is rewarding.

MakerFaire

I am inspired by Minecraft and Call of Duty. Both games are in first person mode. It was developed by Mojang and 4J studios, and Call of Duty is created by Amaze Entertainment and many others. It was created for the fun for people, like many games. Call of duty is intriguing because it is very realistic in graphics, and minecraft is intriguing because there is building, and I personally love to build.

Reverse Engineering

Visual Analysis:

Here are different views of the automoblox car that we got,

Functional Anaylsis:

There were three parts to the base of the car, front, middle, and rear. On the front and back parts there were wheels on both sides to make it roll. In the middle there was a base to carry the passengers. There was a roof on top of the vehicle to cover the passenger. The axles allowed the wheels on the car to turn with ease.

Structural Analysis:

The structural analysis included reverse engineering, in which we took apart the car to see how it was made.

Reflection:

Visual design principles and elements help sell products to consumer because if a product looks good, it will probably catch the eye of customers. The point of the car is to look like an actual car and function like one.

The black box in my opinion, is the parts of an object that is not seen, but it contributes to making the object perform its desired function. The unseen parts are what needs to be reverse engineered to be understood.

Engineers perform reverse engineering tests to understand how a product was made and why it was successful. They take ideas from other engineers and slightly modify it to make the improved item for themselves.

Personally, I would make the wheels on the front be able to turn sideways to make it more realistic, and give it more of a sporty look on all the cars. I like the design of the automoblox. It needs to look better, but otherwise I think it functions pretty well.

Automoblox Dimensioned Drawings on Inventor

In this project, I got to the passenger section part. The most challenging part of this process was finding the exact coordinates of the extruded parts of each shape because there was a lot of math involved in order to put it in the right place. The easiest part of this process I would say is extruding the parts or filleting it. My remaining question for Inventor is how to make stars in a more easier way rather than making each line manually, since using the circular option did not work for me.

Geometric Constraints Reflection Post

The shapes we used in this project was mainly triangles, formed into the form of triangular pyramids because we thought triangles were very strong. The angles that resulted from our shapes were 60 degree angles all around the structure. The surface area is 54.2 in^2, including the bottom of the structure. We would probably cover the outside of the structure with a combination of wood and concrete, and we would need around 40.65 in^2 to cover the outside of the structure. The inside of the structure has the same surface area. I would assume that 6 people would be able to fit inside comfortably, especially since there is a second level to the structure. To test the strength of the building, we placed two composition notebooks successfully on top of the building without having it collapse. We also use a hammer and hit it a few times before hand. To follow the "form follows function" practice, we used triangles since they are super strong, and our structure turned out to work fairly well.

Inventor Question

On inventor, I had a question on using fillets and chamfers to make it fit on rounded edges, and how to change its dimensions around it. I looked up this video and found out how easy it is and how to make the fillet/chamfer fit on rounded edges.

I worked with Paras on inventor and his question was how to find the center of a sketch after making it, and I discovered how easy it really was once he showed me.

Form Meets Function Reflection Post

For this project, I intended on the wheel cap to be mostly black or silver, depending on what the consumer wants. I made this product to be 20". The fan shaped rims are meant to help cool down brakes. It started with the outer rims and I designed the fan to fit inside. It meets the design meets function requirement because regular wheel caps are just meant for looks and do not have much function other than holding the wheel up. The design reminds me of  a fan because that was the points of the design, and turns when the wheel is moving. It is pretty similar to many designs out there with flat spokes pointing outwards in the wheel, but my design is curved and intakes air from outside, so it has a function. I think this design could be better if I can actually test the fans to see how much air it needs to take in and design the fan to take in air without slowing down the car. As of now, it is only a concept without any improvements.

Puzzle Cube Reflection

I timed 9 people for solving the cube, and many more attempted on trying to solve my cube. Only 3 people solved my cube. I timed out for people who took more than 16 minutes.

Solved:

Sonia: ~1min
Paras: ~2 min (claimed)
Mikkayla: ~10 min

Unsolved:

Mr Ho: ~5min
Sukhjit: 3 min 54 sec
William: 16 min
Aasish: ~25 min
Sruthi: ~30 min
Archit: 16 min




Mean: 11.43 minutes
Median: 13 minutes
Mode: 16 minutes
Range: 15 minutes
Standard Deviation: 9.22316

Reflection Questions:

1. It is important to model an idea before finalizing it because it is costly to make a full scale and take the risk of possibly re-doing it because there was an error or something you didn't want.

2. I love the piece that is completely locked in the middle because it cannot be moved without removing another piece of the cube.

3. One thing I would change about my puzzle is that there were two pieces that didn't really connect with the other pieces and were not interlocking. I wish I made it interlocking to make the cube more of a challenge.

Intro To Design Final Portfolio

Brainstorm

While brainstorming, we thought of all the pieces possible for fitting in a 3x3 cube. This helped us think about what pieces to use and what pieces we could possibly use. We made these combinations with 3 cubes, 4 cubes, 5 cubes, and 6 cubes. There should be more combinations but we decided to move onto the next stage of the design process. Each of the cubes are 3/4 inch, and there are a total of 27 cubes. There is a limit of 5 pieces in the cube. 

Cake Layers

These are cake layers. They show the cubes from each layer, to give us a better view of the puzzle.

I chose this design because it had more interlocking pieces and it met all the constraints for making the cube. In addition, this cube is much harder to solve in my opinion, giving my classmates a challenge.

Multi-view Sketches of Parts

I had four people from other classes attempt to solve the puzzle, and they spent an entire lunch period trying to solve it, but they didn't solve it until after I showed them. 

Multi-view of Cube

Inventor

The files for the inventor pieces and assembly is here. 

In this design process, the only thing I have not done is the drawings on Inventor. I feel like this design process was very thorough and detailed, and it really helped me design my cube overall. I think the cube is rather well done because so far, only one person other than me has managed to put the cube together, and it was with a little bit help. 

Cube Quality Control

We were given 27 3/4 inch cubes, and we used a dial caliper to measure one side of every cube. We recorded the data to the nearest 0.001 of an inch. The data is pretty well distributed except for a few. 

Mean:0.746363

Median:0.746363

Mode:0.7478 Range:0.0151

Standard Deviation:0.003837934