Motion Machine

For my motion machine I ordered the main components that I will need for the electronics. I will likely need to add a button and possibly a few other things, but these are the parts that I absolutely need to create the motion. I chose to use a Nema 17 stepper motor for the drive both because I have a very fine range of control if need be, and also because stepper motors have a good amount of torque for their size. The disadvantage of a stepper is that you need a more advanced driver then you do for other types of motors. After looking over my options I chose a version from Sainsmart, not because it was the best, but because it was available on amazon prime. The joke was on me though because it took far longer than two days to show up. Additionally I needed an arduino uno to run everything and a power source.

The next step was to wire everything up and run a test.

Power yes, motion no. Time to trouble shoot.

Finger Splints for a Burn Victim

In the latest project for Universal Design we are working to create a splinting device for a burn victim that helps him to keep his fingers straight. The splint needs to be bendable so he can grab things, not be abrasive on the skin on the top of his hands, still allow him to put his fingers in his pockets, and a few other criteria. I am working with a couple of other people to solve this problem, and I think with our varied backgrounds we will be able to create some interesting solutions. Here are a couple of the very rough prototypes that we created.

We created a couple of variations of this one, there is a piece that rests against the palm and helps to keep the last joint straight, the neoprene sleeve keeps the finger straight but still allows the finger to bend. The rigid part in this version is to long and still restricts motion. There also needs to be consideration for breathabilty in the material but there is potential.

Both of these versions allow for the middle joint to move, but help to keep the other joints straight. We found that in this type of prototype the higher the elastic part was attached in the back the better the flexibility and recoil of the brace was.

This best shows the problem with this method. There is a problem with the height in allowing for the hand to enter the pocket. We think that this can be partially alleviated by giving the form a plow shape that helps it to slide into the pocket.


Both of these operate similarly with a rigid bottom piece and straps that could softly hold it to the finger. The main difference being that the top part has an elastic band and the second version has a torsion spring. We are thinking the latter holds a good deal of potential for keeping the entire thing streamlined.

A few of the prototypes we made.

A Few New Things

I am creating new things for my capstone in digital fabrication and design. At this point I am still in the experimentation phase. I still have a million ideas that I would like to work thorough and try, but I think for the time being I will be focusing on patterns and what I can do with them in regards to using the router, laser cutter, and Tormach mill. (Although I did try one additional thing this week)

 
Same pattern with both the router and the laser cutter. I really like the scale shift, and wonder about making the work piece for the router version even larger.
In the image bottom left I painted the pattern in gloss on a matte background, when I places the larger lattice over it there were some interesting things that happened with the pattern and shadow. Unfortunately with the set up I had I didn't capture any images that really portrayed the contrast.
The shadow by itself looks pretty great though.

When I overlap scale and glossiness interesting things happen and I wonder how that will work with some of the other things I have tried so far.

Mechanism 4

As I wait for the last of the electronics to get here in the mail I am working to mock up the mechanisms that they will be driving. Here is the next one.

Hearing Funnel

The seam seems is nice and tight after the last set of revisions. The bracket interfaces with the helmet but needs to be beefed up a bit, and I think I need to add a slot to the end of the top piece to help keep it more square,

The print quality on the first one of these revisions was a little bad on the attachment for the strap, but it still works nicely and holds in place quite well.

I am still able to hear the sounds to the front and side and now can direct my hearing behind me. There are still a number of improvements that could be made but I could make but I feel that as a warm up I was able to solve a good number of problems and refine my design quite a bit.

Hearing Funnel

Unsure of what to call this project I have been referring to it as the hearing funnel. I don't feel like this is a final name, but it works for now as I make notes about it. After having a printed version I wanted to refine the tolerances between the two pieces, center the joint better, create a tighter seam, and hide the ends of the seam. I also wanted to work on how the piece was going to interface with the helmet, and created simple brackets to attach to the straps pf the helmet.

Warm Up

After having the cardboard mock up I created an initial model in Rhino. I was really loose on my tolerances and was mostly thinking about how I could assemble the pieces. I have been thinking about the way the piece will attach to the helmet, but decided that I will consider that in the revisions that I do. I know that having a model and 3D printing it is the first step.