FAQ

By
How do you create linear motion from a circular motor?
Starting off, this was a big challenge for us. Our first idea was to build a crank (Figure 1), we thought this would be too complicated. Our next idea was a screw driven system (Figure 2), we thought this would be too slow. The idea we ended up going with was a linear actuator (Figure 3). This design is simple and the speed is variable, so it is easily controllable.
Image result for mechanical crank gif   Image result for screw driven actuator gif  Image result for linear actuator gif
Figure 1: Crank system          Figure 2: Screw Driven system     Figure 3: Linear actuator

How do you plan on activating the system?
While designing the system, we were not sure if we wanted the user to activate it directly or indirectly, a button or a sensor. We decided to go with an indirect activation, using an Ultraviolet (UV) sensor to sense movement and initiate the design.

How do you plan on making the face?
Originally, we were going to 3D print the whole together. We were told the printers would have a big enough volume to print the face. Then we were told there was not enough volume to print the face. To fix this, we decided to print the face in small blocks. There would have to be a lot of these blocks, 20+. It will take longer than we want but we will have the face.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 9: One Giant Leap for Group 5

By
Image
        Over the past few weeks the group has been mostly split between people working on the coding to work with the electronics, and the others building the framework and the parts that will move. This week the project seemed to really be coming together, the electronics and the framework was being put together.         After stressful weeks of spending hours on coding, we finally got the motors to run with the IR sensor to get the whole system to be initiated when people walk in front of it. With the IR sensor working and the motor working, we started on the peripherals: lights and sound. The light was up and running quickly, the sound will hopefully be working by next week. The final circuitry and code is shown below. This ended up taking much longer than we had anticipated.      Now that the face was finished being glued and dried, we put it on the support system to finish all the parts on the linear actuator. Once that was s...
Read more

Week 3: Stepper Up

By
Image
Continuing with last week, we thought of new ideas on how to push the face through the Lycra sheet. We decided to go with a linear actuator (Figure 1). We are hoping that this is more easy to control and build than a crank or screw mechanism. We spent a lot of time looking up different builds, making it easy to build and keeping cost down. Once we finalized the idea and researched the parts, we ordered what we needed. While many of us were working on the linear actuator, Nick Locantore started working with the Arduino, getting an understanding of how to use it for later. Along with this, we started testing the motors and servos provided. We are provided with small DC motors, which do not provide enough power to do what we need. After talking with the professor, he decided he would by some stepper motors for the class (NEMA17 Stepper motor 1.8 degrees step / 4.8 kg/cm). These stepper motors will hopefully provide us with enough power, we will have to test them once we have them...
Read more

Week 4: Let's Face It

By
Image
This week we split up an did a couple of things. Since the face is finished, we wanted to print it. Originally we were told that the volume, mostly the length and width, could fit the whole face. Then we were told that we couldn't. So, we had to come up with a way to print the face in smaller parts in order to fit the constraints of the printers we are allowed to use. The design for the TV frame was also started. We want this to look like an older TV. To make the design for the face movement, we have to make a linear actuator. We need to know how to control the stepper-motor required for movement. We worked on the coding and circuitry needed to make it work. As for building it, we got parts, but some of them were not what they said they were and we had to send them back. This set us back and we were not happy. The 3-D CAD design for the face we are printing.
Read more