While I’m still getting over the thrill of having a new Tesla to play with, the shop was focused on getting some CNC Router cuts executed today. Seniors Daniel and Lucas have been designing speaker boxes. The boxes are quite particular, using parameters within Fusion 360 to control volume specific to the different speaker dynamics. I wrote about it more specifically earlier this year in this post.
Today we began the first cuts of the Fusion 360 files. We exported the files from Fusion as DXFs and then imported them into VCarve. We created multiple cutting paths for different heights and types (pockets v profiles) and set the Atlas router to work. Below are a few images of the process. We will have more to show next week.
The Robotics Club is getting ready for their event in May, in which we will be competing the the MATE ROV Competition. The students are hard at work building the ROV, and we are very excited to watch them compete. They have been operating on their own for most of the time trying to create the ROV, and its fun to watch them work on all the different problems they have to solve. I took this quick snapshot the other day after they finished having a meeting in our classroom to go over next steps for the ROV. My favorite bullet point is second from the bottom.
A quick update on the Pi Radio, since it has been a few weeks when it was last mentioned. It works, however, still waiting on the code to get it to function when power is applied, rather than having to SSH into the Pi and manually start the code. My co-teacher is helping with this, so once he is able to make it work, we should be able to package everything up and finalize everything. For now, here are some photos of the volume and tuning knobs wired to the Pi.
Wanted to showcase a few projects that are happening in the shop right now. The first is from one of our sophomores, Shubh P ’24, who took the design on on his LED Light Box to another level. Shubh has put a lot of attention to detail in his project from CAD to circuitry. He introduced several types of circuitry components to the design, which include potentiometers as dials, 7 segment display, and pushbutton switches. In addition, he utilized different sized wood in his CAD model to create patterns within the framework of the structure of the box. It really turned out well. Unfortunately, when taking photos of it today, there was a minor glitch in the coding, so he is going to fix the issue and I will post some more photos below.
In addition to the light box, Prince A ’23 is working on updating an older project from a previous student, a bluetooth speaker. The circuitry for the project is being modernized, as is the speaker box. Below you can see some test fitting of speakers in cardboard.
And lastly, Clark B ’23 and Daniel R ’22 are working on getting our traffic light fully functioning. Clark has been making circuit boards on our Bantam Tools mill and writing code to make the light work in unison with the school’s bell system. You can see his array of relays below in blue. Daniel has designed a connector to fit the traffic light on an old tv stand. We decided to print the connector out of a carbon fiber filament for strength, and after some trial and error, we are pretty happy with the final result. You can see it below in black.
A few times this week I’ve noticed in the morning that the lighting in my shop is behaving a bit strange. The system is a ‘smart’ lighting platform that recognizes movement within a room. It will automatically turn on the lights when movement is sensed, and then turn the lights out after a set time if no movement is sensed. Usually when I arrive at work the lights turn on automatically, and then after a while of working at my desk they turn off. I then get up and walk a few steps to get them back on again. This morning, I got up from my desk to get the lights back on and then started turning off and on again at random. It was very strange. It lasted for about 30 seconds and then everything was normal again. I’ve put a short video of it below.
In other news, our students have finally decided it was time to create some more permanent name tags for their lockers in the shop. After a few different iterations, they settled on making acrylic nametags. They spray paint the back of clear acrylic whatever color they want, then engrave their names in reverse on the acrylic. It creates a really nice finish. They are measuring and drilling holes into the lockers today, and will probably spend some time next week finishing the job. Each student is responsible for making their own locker tag. Below is an example.
