Assignment Week 1¶
How Arduino is open-sourcing imagination | Massimo Banzi - YouTube
In the past, with the pre-course, the week of Tech Beyond the Myth and now the Prototyping for Design, I am getting closer to acquiring the set of skills that can serve as a base to anything I would like to make. These things do not seem as foreign to me and I am befriending electronics, getting excited about prototyping and viewing software as micro-challenges instead of focusing on expertise. I am happy that we are getting more time to explore the maker’s world and find ways to incorporate some of that knowledge and instruments into our projects. My interests rely on non-western-centric world views and interspecies collaboration, but when it comes to making I am deeply interested in making science more accessible and hacking Biology, not only in access to knowledge sources but also facilities/infrastructures/instruments and the tools used to bring Biology into different spaces. Science is a societal construct that can be proven by mathematical arguments and reproduced through sets of experiments, consequently, its reliability and significance have been settled as our default way of getting to know the unknown, so in the following weeks I hope I can put myself in the shoes of a “maker” and DIY my way into things that enable other ways of getting to know the world that surrounds us be it trough scientific ways or not. We will see only time can tell what I will come up with.
Task 1.0¶
Until now we have had classes with Victor and Eduardo. And with those knowledge inputs, there were tasks as outputs. As Victor guides us through the basics of Arduino, the selection of boards, the maker community, resources for further explorations, and anything electronics, Task 1.0 is to make our Arduino music with an Arduino board. I was convinced I had forgotten what I learned in previous weeks but not really, I did all the basics without struggling too much: a closed circuit, indicated the right pins in the code, played around with the timing of the music, experimented with different songs and tried to understand the new parts, for example, the piezzo buzzer. This was fun, it seems like I am slowly getting into the right mindset for the Microchallenge week.
How piezo buzzer works: One could say that piezo buzzers are made of smart materials that change when voltage is applied, creating sound through the piezzo disk similar to what happens to a speaker’s cone. A source that helped me better understand what this buzzer was: https://www.cuidevices.com/blog/buzzer-basics-technologies-tones-and-driving-circuits
This was the library used to produce the different songs: https://github.com/robsoncouto/arduino-songs
Task 2.0¶
Task 2.0 relates to Eduardo’s class on 3D software and modeling. We started small by figuring out what came to mind when the word parametric was in the equation. Does this help us to get to know a three dimension object better? For me, it enabled a more structured and clear view of what lied in front of me or what I wished to build, by caring for its shapes/forms under metric systems.
object for the aid of ecological restoration
Task 2.1¶
As Eduardo gave us this next Task simultaneously I opened Rhino as it is widely used software in the Design world and more importantly, the machines in FabLab are compatible with this software. I came to know of its existence only during the pre-course. Needless to say that I no longer remembered 90% of what I’d learned. So, it was a nice surprise to open Rhino for the first time in the last 4 months and not be completely oblivious to some simple functions and tools. Still, I have a long way to go and figure out how to do this particular object I had in my mind - a paper mâché nest for transplanting plants into terrains that are stripped from life (it looks like a baking form for flan puddings). - I did not finish this task as I intended (having the object fully 3D modeled) but I wish to follow up and I will update this page.
Task 3.0¶
MDEF is good at breaking complex subjects into pieces and making them more approachable. So once the task was set > Sami, Josephine, Jimena and I decided to sit down and figure it out together where half of us would be responsible for the LED setup and the other two for the light sensor setup. Constantly, coming together to situate ourselves in the process and find ways to surpass the obstacles. We had some troubles with it… but this is how far we got:
Task 3.1¶
I was excited about the laser cutting! I did use the small laser cut last week during remixing materials, as Amanda already had used similar machines and so we decided to cut our bioplastic into butterfly shapes using the laser cut machine. This time around I used the medium laser cut machine and got to experiment a bit more with the preparation of the file.
- Selected some fabric pictures > kapulana (Angola), pano di terra (Cabo Verde), Bogolan mudcloth (Mali)
- narrowed it down to specific shapes and simplified forms
- used Inkscape to translate images into vectors
- passed it to Rhino
Once I passed the file to Rhino, the lines were duplicated and “crooked”. With the help of Ahmed, I then traced the patterns and transformed them into 2D drawings and joined polylines. These were the results:
Assignment Week 2¶
This week we had to learn how to scan, 3D print and make a network (electronics). We did the Network class with Victor and the 3D & scan class with Eduardo. I am glad their enthusiasm is contagious because these themes are outside my bubble of interest, of course they are connectable and I am sure future me will have make sense of it all for the 2nd Microchallenge, but for now I trust their energetic way of sharing knowledge.
Task 4.0 - Networking¶
Victor starts by asking: “What is a network?”. The class is shy, it sounds like a tricky question… We are constantly networking but not in the way Victor intended… Someone answers, “connections” and I though something similar. But, in the electronic sphere “is all about copies so one can receive what others have, creating a way of communicating between each other. Historically we felt the need to create networks to move information from one place to another. Basically, to do the same thing in parallel through copies.”
Victor proceeded to give us a class of how information jumps, bounces and can even be encrypted through making these leaps more frequent. We talked about the undersea optic cables, how the jumps consume greats amounts of energy, the historic value of networks and how that is linked to current ways of communicating ex. WhatsApp. And by the end of the class, as a Task we had to do our own Network so we could communicate with each other.
Copy of object for the aid of ecological restoration
Task 4.1 - Scan & 3D print¶
First and foremost, 3D printing is an additive way of manufacturing that can save lots of material if we are thoughtful in our design. Jackpot! Some would say, yet the industry still relays on industrial design. Eduardo, gave us an extensive class on the history, machines, file types&formats, file preparation, softwares, slicing and gave a panoply of examples for each case that illustrated the different uses, applications, and emerging technologies being applied in this field. Following all this technical and dense theory the class then moved to the 3D machine room to see and touch the different types of materials and how they are stored in the FabLab. During these classes we are normally mixed with FabAcademy students so we got to recall some of the concepts we talked about during mixing materials for 3D printing with biomaterials, a rare occurrence… This is actually really good as repetition does help me get the into the flow of things, especially in environment where repetition is sometimes rare as we learn a new softwares, technics, philosophies, technologies, etc. on a daily basis. This was such an intense class that I actually do not have pictures of it. Yet, there is this great video of FabLab that “explains to the T”, how to use the machines in our lab.
This was the proposal: “Do a scan of an object and 3D print it or 3D print an object and scan it”. A little bit of context, because I do tend to overthink - after some talks with Amanda and Wen I came to realize something I did not see before. I realized that MDEF creates a trash and we do have a pile of “guilty waste” in our classroom that we hope we’ll use in some of our projects. So, if I was to create something I wanted it to be useful. As funny as it sounds, I found this wonderful cutter for cat food. It is an issue in my parents house. When I am back home and have to feed the cat we never give the whole can of food just a third which is a bit of a struggle (and it should not be!), so when I found a tool that would split the food in 3 parts I knew I wanted to printed it. Useful and Practical that was my reasoning behind it.
Task 5.1 - Recap with Oscar¶
LED by Carolina Almeida
Task 5.1 - CNC¶
From what Edu taught us, CNC machines in a maker space not only offer precise and efficient fabrication but also help us to bring our ideas to life with a level of precision and complexity that traditional tools may not allow. CNC machines can do various types of work, including milling, drilling, engraving, and cutting, allowing for comprehensive fabrication capabilities. CNCs enable work automation, meaning we no longer need 30 different wood tools, reducing the number of machines required in a wood workshop. But, these does not mean this machine can only work on wood, you can do it on plastics, composites, etc! The accessibility of CNC these days (for example buying one second hand) fosters a collaborative environment, where people can learn, experiment, and push the boundaries of their creativity (for example a wood branch lamp - see bellow the example)
CNC wood lamp by Carolina Almeida
However, every time we discuss CNC, the associated dangers can be daunting, requiring us to pay close attention to details. Understanding the machine allows us to better leverage its capabilities to serve our design and ideas. Taking note of small details:
- such as cutting outside the line for outer cuts to achieve accurate interior measurements,
- cutting inside the line for interior cuts
- implementing fixture strategies to ensure proper fit between pieces can greatly influence the success of our designs and help minimize material waste
- The choice of cutting tools, such as end mills, depends on the desired finish, material hardness, for example.
- do not forget to stabilize the material! and calibrate the machine everytime (ask help to fabLab team)
- after its use you can sand, paint, etc. as the final result might be quite rough
Meanwhile, I have gained confidence in my 2D and 3D digital fabrication skills, even though I didn’t fabricate an object during this week. However, I am currently facing a challenge in managing my time between two projects: the Museum of Colonization and the Tarot Cards. As the Museum of Colonization project doesn’t involve the use of CNC, I will likely assist Paige with the CNC work for the Tarot Cards project, so we can build a beautiful box for our cards and add a packaging experience to our intervention - When it comes to tarot the environment, and design of the experience is extremely important!
UPDATE ON TAROT BOX
I had more of a passive role as the button from the Museum of Colonization (MOC) occupied most of my time! Because I focused on electronics for the MOC and in Vynil cutting for Ecofeminim Futures, I also helped Paige with electronics and the vynil cutter (we ended up not using the stikers we made), and followed along the work and development of the box. We tried to design the box, even though we are more than capable of doing the design but… We needed some serious Rhino skills to speed things up. Shoutout to Ahmed for coming through and helping us out!
Tarot BOX CNC by Carolina Almeida