Electric play
During our third meeting at SDX I received some constructive criticism.
The Amazon jungle/San Rafael waterfall idea was welcomed, however, the jewelry-holding function was not. A truce was reached – a (possibly geometric) open-facing, laser-cut terrarium, possibly made of thin plywood (but I am still researching materials), with the laser-cut, topographic hills covered by preserved moss, and the waterfall made of fibre optic light cables with LED light.
I drew up a rough idea and it received a thumbs up.
I took a short visit to the Tron Kirk SDX location – the building is beautiful and it definitely has an atmosphere my product would fit into. I surveyed the products offered and found two artists’ creations which were made using a laser cutter. I then had a quick chat with Lynzi who assured me she will help me get in touch with them. Some questions I would like to ask them are where they source their materials, and what kind of paint and glue they use to assemble their pieces.
While the geometric dome sounds interesting, one thing laser cutting allows plywood to do is creating living hinges. They allow a lot more flexibility to the material, complex curves might be possible to achieve, as well as giving it a lovely aesthetic. The heat of the laser chars the material where it cuts, this also makes it look more rustic – and that might fit very nicely with the theme of my product.
After some deep research, I purchased several pieces of electrical and other equipment from eBay and Amazon, which I believe may be used in the final products.
I bought 1 meter of 1.5 mm wide, side-glowing, sparkling fibre optic cable, which I intend to use as the waterfall feature, with one of the cool white 1W LED diode beads. I also bought black and red soldering cables, self-locking button micro switches to control the LED light on the unit (once received, I will be able to better decide how it will fit onto the side of the product, as the 3mm plywood might make it more difficult to hide the base of the button and still allow a stable connection), USB-A male plugs to solder onto them, which will provide the power for the unit, and clear heat shrink tubes for a secure soldering connection.
Unfortunately I found out two days after oderding that the USB plugs were cancelled as they were out of stock. Instead, I found 10 pcs 1m male to male USB-A cables that I could theoretically cut in half (still allowing 0.5m cable connection) and solder to the unit, this way I will have a cable for 20 units, and will not need to worry about soldering the cable to the connector, also cutting down on waste and time.
I do not have a lot of experience soldering and creating electrical units, which is why it will be very valuable. I do, however, have my own soldering iron.
I also have an Arduino UNO set I have not yet used, and this included some LED diodes, a breadboard, and some other equipment. I watched some YouTube videos to familiarize myself with the process but was unsuccessful in using the USB cable I cut off an old computer mouse and stripped the end off, as it was not as firm as the jumper cables my partner gave me to try. I also am not planning to use an Arduino in my final design, so I gave up on this test. It did, however, help me to understand the mechanics of how the unit will work and what pieces it will need to work.
I found some “cool white” fairy lights in my box of electronics that I have not used for a long time. There are 20 small LEDs on the white cable, which is powered by 2 AA batteries.
I decided to conduct primary research and use these LEDs for the first few test pieces. I took the heat-shrunk casing off, then cut the soldered connection to separate the wires from the LED diodes.
I would like to avoid using batteries in my design, as they are terrible for the environment (“As batteries corrode, their chemicals soak into soil and contaminate groundwater and surface water“; they are also often single-use, and this adds to landfill waste). That is why, instead of providing a large UK mains power plug, which is location locked and very large and heavy (requiring a lot more material to create it), I will use the universal USB-A plugs instead. Nowadays most people have computers, laptops, portable chargers, wall power plugs or adapters, as well as many other options which make this solution more accessible, smaller, lighter, and better for the planet.
What I must be careful of is providing a long enough power cable to allow multiple use cases, and possibly building in a method to hide any excess cable inside the unit.
One of the photos of the San Rafael falls featured a beautiful rainbow, and this, as well as my research into materials I can cut using my laser cutter, inspired me to try using some discarded CDs (in the spirit of upcycling) for an authentic, miniature rainbow. I will not spend too much time testing this as it is not an essential feature, but as drawing or fabricating an artificial rainbow out of acrylic or similar materials would look tacky, while one created out of light would enhance the aesthetics and positive message of the product, I would still like to try it.
I created mood board which will help me to decide on my final design. I included a laser cut topographic map and living hinges, some images of the Amazon rainforest, some Incan imagery (as they lived around the area), and human lungs, because I had the idea to use the imagery in the background to remind the user of the Amazon being “the lungs of the Earth”.
My initial sketches helped me to think a little outside the box, but even the simpler organic shapes seem quite challenging on Fusion360 CAD, which I thought may help to make the drawings necessary for the laser cutter, as it can show me a 3D image with the correct dimensions.
On Tuesday I will visit Borders Scrap store, a lovely shop a mere few minutes away from where I live, which is chock full of cheap art materials, new and used, to see if they have any plywood I could use for testing the laser cutter.
I also must semi-finalize the design, laser cut and glue the layers, and preserve enough moss to cover the first prototype. In case I receive the electronic bits purchased in time, I might attempt to play around with them as well.
It is possible I will have to purchase the moss, most likely fresh, and the plywood, but for now I will try to avoid this, and upcycle as much as I can.
I am still to find out what glue and tint and/or paint I should use for blue, green, and white colours, which are environmentally friendly and of good quality, and I have to find my logo and branding, as well as write an early draft of the biography for the brand and the product.
February 14th
Today I received some of the materials I ordered (clear heat shrink tubing, soldering cables, micro switch buttons which have a very satisfying click, and LED diodes that are tiny), and I also visited the scrap store where I purchased 30 sheets of thick cardstock in varying sizes (some new, some already laser cut, all for only £2), as they did not have any plywood. I am unsure what exact material they were made of, so I will have to be extra careful when cutting them to be safe from any toxic fumes.
My focus today was to create my first prototype.
Initially I used some thicker paper to make the first few layers in the originally intended size (15 cm width x 10 cm depth), but for a quick first model I decided to make it in 1:4 scale. I made the layers first out of the paper, making sure I numbered them to avoid mixing up the small pieces. It was difficult to try to follow the shape of the hills by simply looking at the photograph, which is why, when I copied the shapes onto the thicker cardboard, cut them out and stuck them on to each other using double-sided tape, I had to change a lot of the top layers by cutting into them with a scalpel. I am pretty happy with the result, and the only thing missing from this prototype is the dome to cover the sides, back, and possibly some of the top.
I intend to later use this prototype to either take the layers apart and scan them or photograph them, then trace them using Adobe Illustrator, or simply try to do the same with a photo from the top view, depending on how difficult it is to separate the layers.
I prepared my soldering iron and the electrical materials and attempted a rough first test of a circuit, with two LED diodes, a button switch and a USB cable. I was unsuccessful, but this may be due to my lack of experience, or the low quality of the USB cable. I managed to burn my finger in the process which made me somewhat wary of trying it again. I was also worried about the smoke, so I placed my air purifier unit on my desk and will be wearing a mask next time. I would like to try and create or purchase a soldering helping hand, with more than 3-4 bendable arms, a heavy base, and a magnifying glass as I was noticing my eyes were not quiet up to the task.
February 15th
Today I worked on designing the topographic layers in Adobe Illustrator to be laser cut. There are 25 layers overall. It was a very tedious process, but I had to use the few photos I found on the internet and guess the shapes.
If I have enough time, I am going to import these layers into Fusion360 as SVG files, and give them a 2 or 3 mm thickness, to see whether it works as a 3-dimensional piece.
