First some new theory

Diodes The key function of an ideal diode is to control the direction of current-flow. Current passing through a diode can only go in one direction, called the forward direction. Current trying to flow the reverse direction is blocked. They're like the one-way valve of electronics.

If the voltage across a diode is negative, no current can flow, and the ideal diode looks like an open circuit. In such a situation, the diode is said to be off or reverse biased.

As long as the voltage across the diode isn't negative, it'll "turn on" and conduct current. Ideally a diode would act like a short circuit (0V across it) if it was conducting current. When a diode is conducting current it's forward biased. Source: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/diodes/all Transistors The Arduino can only provide 40mA at 5V on its digital pins. Most motors require more current and/or voltage to operate. A transistor can act as a digital switch, enabling the Arduino to control loads with higher electrical requirements. The transistor in this example completes the motor's circuit to ground. This example uses a TIP120, which can switch up to 60V at 5A.

When PWMing a transistor, it's similar to pulsing an LED. The higher the PWM value, the faster the motor will spin. The lower the value, the slower it will spin.

Transistors have three pins. For Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT), like the one used used in this example, the pins are called base, collector, and emitter. A small amount of current on the base pin closes a circuit between the collector and emitter pins. BJTs come in two different types, NPN and PNP. The TIP120 is a NPN-type transistor, which means the collector will connect to the motor, and the emitter will connect to ground. Source: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/TransistorMotorControl

LED circuit with button

To connect the LED I used the example on DLO. I tested the analog and digital code. They both work.

DC motor circuit without button

Above, without code. Later this week, I made the circuit again and attached some code to experiment with the motor.

int motorPin = 10;

void setup() {
   pinMode(motorPin, OUTPUT);
   Serial.begin(9600);
   while (! Serial);
   Serial.println("Speed 0 to 255");
}

void loop() {
   if (Serial.available()) {
      int speed = Serial.parseInt();
      if (speed >= 0 && speed <= 255) {
         analogWrite(motorPin, speed);
      }
   }
}

I used the code above to speed the motor up and and down. By writing a number between 0 and 255 in the Serial Monitor.

Below, I turned the motor on and off with HIGH an LOW, with a very simple code.

int motorPin = 9;
void setup() {
 pinMode(motorPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
 digitalWrite(motorPin, HIGH);
 delay(1000); 
 digitalWrite(motorPin, LOW);
 delay(1000);
}

The used the code above to let the motor go on and off.

Processing: yellow LED on/off with a computer mouse

My first sketch with Processing 3 is based on this tutorial found on Youtube.

First, I wrote the following code in Arduino IDE

const int ledPin = 13;

void setup() {
pinMode (ledPin, OUTPUT); 
Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop() {
if(Serial.available() > 0) {
  char ledPinState = Serial.read();
  if (ledPinState == '1'){
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  }
    if (ledPinState == '0'){
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    }
    
  }
}

As you can see, I defined pin 13, then I made sure that pin 13 is the output (the LED). Next, I used an if statement to let the circuit do what it has to do when the value is 1 or 0. I uploaded this on the Arduino board.

After uploading, I set up the circuit on the Arduino board as you can see below.

Thereon, I opened Processing 3. I searched a png-image on google of a yellow LED and added this in the same map of the sketch I was coding.

My sketch on Processing 3 consisted the following code:

import processing.serial.*;

Serial myPort;

PImage bg;

void setup(){
  size(320, 240);
  bg=loadImage("Yellow-LED.png");
  
  myPort = new Serial (this, "/dev/cu.usbmodem1421", 9600);
}

void draw(){
  background(bg);
  if(mousePressed && (mouseButton == LEFT)){
    myPort.write('1');
  }
  if(mousePressed && (mouseButton == RIGHT)){
myPort.write('0');
  }
}

In the first line, i'm importing the library for a serial communication. In the third line, i'm defining a name for the serial: I used myPort.

Then, a background image. This will be the png-image I added in the map. In the void setup(), I'm defining the size and pick the image. Also I pick the USB-port where my Arduino board will get the power of.

Void draw() works almost the same as void loop() known in Arduino. Here I use if statements which will work when you click (right or left) with the computermouse on the background (png-image of the LED).

If its clicked, it will send a 1 to the other code (Arduino IDE). This code says: If the state is 1, the LED will go HIGH (on).

Plugging the Arduino board in the port devined in the code, plugging in the mouse in the computer and clicking on the 'play' button will bring the result below.

How can you make hardware look interesting/appealing/evocative?

I tried to make a wheel out of the DC motor.

With that wheel, I want to make something that can drive or maybe something else. I didn't had good and sturdy materials at home so it didn't workout well.

I had an empty toilet roll and an empty sprinkles pack. I made wheels of the toilet roll (too weak and not sturdy at all) but it's for the idea.

I carried the Arduino, breadbord and powerbank in the empty sprinkles pack which should present the deck.

I think the wheel will work with better materials. Maybe I can make it with wood. The only question then is if it wouldn't get too heavy.

Electronic circuits

Final output swatch

The final output is an arrow that always points somewhere else. It is a simple concept that I chose because it was related to the materials I had in my possession. You can do anything with this arrow. Consider, for example, the game of Twister or Pim Pam Pet. Here also an arrow is used that always points to something arbitrary. You can also put names around it and ask the question: "Who is doing the dishes tonight?". You can also turn it into a drinking game.

In short, a rotating arrow can be used in many situations in daily life.

I made this in this way so that it also matches the style of the input. Before making this I outlined a few other output options.

In the end I did not make all of these because I either did not have the materials or I could not connect the protrusion of the motor with a stick because I only had adhesive tape and no terminal block (kroonsteen).

I made the output by cutting an arrow from a piece of paper and I colored it with copper tape to fit it with the style of my selfmade input from week 6.

Note: I wasn't able to connect the selfmade input and output to eachother. This because of the lack of wires.

I have not yet been able to make the animation. But below, the text of this zine.

Zine text

Toolkit

I study CMD. Here, I made extensive use of various toolkits. We have for example a card set toolkit specially made for CMD students. It all contains theories and methods that help solve certain design problems. During my internship last year, I made a user experience website toolkit myself, where people can puzzle together a website that suits the target group and the company, using dozens of cards with different elements.

I did not use a specific toolkit for the Makerslab assignments. My method here was the other way around. Instead of first thinking about how to design something (this can be done through a toolkit) I almost immediately started experimenting to understand the machine or Arduino. I have often not been able to focus on the design, but only on the effect of the product I make or the machine I use. My method here was to look at various tutorials and examples and get inspiration from classmates and other sources.

I think, only when you are really designing (making something more attractive for a target group, a company, for yourself or someone or something else) a toolkit is a good way to refine, filter or start this end product.

Making bioplastics

I used the for basic recepies and my kitchen for inspiration.

Goal

In week 5, we made a mold with the 3D printer. I will experiment on making bioplastics and use this mold for the end result.

This mold, will make another mold if you pour a mixture of a bioplastic in it. I will use this bioplastic mold to make another bioplastic.

Index

1. Basic agar agar foam

2. Gelatine with pureed raspberry

3. Agar agar cooked with mandarine juice instead of water

4. Cornstrach with dried hibiscus

5. Gelatine foam with poppy seeds

6. Agar agar with paprika spices

7. Cornstarch with pure cocoa powder

8. Agar agar foam with mallow

1 - Basic agar Agar foam

Ingredients Glycerine - 2,7 g Water - 40 g Agar agar - 1,6 g Hand soap - 1 pump of handsoap

The first bioplastic that caught my attention was made with agar agar and soap. What I liked about this was the spongy look that this material has.

Since this was the first attempt, I almost strictly adhered to the recipe to see if it went well. The only differnce is that I used handsoap instead of dish soap.

As soon as I added the soap, the mixture foamed and the substance thickened a bit.

I poured the mixture into a wooden bowl. This, because I want to test different surfaces to see what works best, most beautiful and easiest.

Result

2 - Gelatine with pureed raspberry

Ingredients Glycerin - 7,2 g Water - 60 g Gelatine - 12 g Raspberry - 2/3 pieces

With this bioplastic I wanted to use a different recipe and add a color to it. Gelatin plastic has a nice smooth texture, so I decided to make it and try it out. I mashed raspberries and added a little while cooking for the colour.

What struck me when making this gelatin bioplastic is that I did not get a lot of froth and it did not get very thick during cooking while it has to do that according the cookbook. Still, I poured it into a mold and I was curious about the result.

I put the maximum amount of glycerine in it (according to the cookbook). This ensures that the bioplastic should become very flexible.

As a mold I used a mini baking tin in the shape of a bundt cake.

Result

3 - Agar Agar with mandarine juice instead of water

Ingredients 1,6 g - Agar 40 ml - Tangerine juice 4,3 g - Glycerine

This bioplastic is also made from agar agar, but without soap. So you don't get the foam effect here. I changed the color here by squeezing a mandarin and using this juice instead of the 40ml of water I had to add.

The amount of glycerine is 4.3. This is quite high, so the end result has to be quite flexible.

Here, too, I used a mini baking tin that I found in my kitchen. This baking tin is rectangular, flexible and has a flat wall and surface.

Result

4 - Cornstarch with dried hibiscus

Ingredients Glycerin - 5 g Water - 80 ml Cornstarch - 1,6 g White vinegar - 15 ml Hibiscus - 2/3 pieces

I made this bioplastic with cornstarch and vinegar, among other things. My stepmother said that hibiscus gives a nice dark red color when you cook it. I followed this advice, pulverized the hibiscus and added it during cooking. While stirring, the mixture became thicker in my opinion. As soon as I poured it into a mold and let it dry at an open window, I quickly noticed that this mixture took much longer to actually dry.

I used the same baking tin as before as a mold. Small, rectangular, flexible and flat.

result

Unfortunately, this mixture failed. After 4 days it didn't dry. So I made a new one with cornstarch and found the mistake. See number 7.

5 - Gelatine foam with poppy seeds

Ingredients Glycerin - 15 g Water - 60 ml Gelatine - 45 g Dish soap - 6 ml Poppy seeds

With the stuff and ingredients I have, I want to make all the recipes that I can. Now only 1 remains. The gelatin foam bioplastic.

When preparing all the ingredients, I noticed that a lot of gelatin was needed compared to the bioplastic based on gelatin I made before (almost 4 times as much). I also saw that there was ml instead of grams. Maybe this was a typo, but I kept the grams.

I found poppy seeds in my spice cabinet. This could give a weird structure to the bioplastic so I decided to throw this into the mixture.

I used a glass jar with a low rim as a mold. When I threw in the mixture, I realized that it might be difficult to take it out when it dries up. According to the cookbook, 15 grams of glycerine is slightly more brittle than flexible.

Result

6 - Agar Agar with paprika spices

Ingredients 1,6 g - Agar 40 ml - Water 1,4 g - Glycerine

With 5 different mixtures of bioplastics, I should have had enough. Still I found a nice bowl with interesting shapes in it. Then I decided to make 1 more mixture of agar agar. I gave it a color by means of paprika powder.

Unlike the other agar agar mixture, this is made with water instead of mandarin juice. It also contains about 3 times less glycerine, so the end result must be a lot more brittle.

Result

7 - Cornstarch with pure cocoa powder

Ingredients Glycerin - 5 g Water - 80 ml Cornstarch - 1,6 g White vinegar - 15 ml Cocoa powder - 5 g

Didn't work out well. The structure was better than the other cornstarch but still very fragile and sticky. After a week drying, it broke.

Material properties

Gelatine foam with poppy seeds

This one is quite firm but also flexible from texture. I think this could be a good mold. The thin variant is a little more glossy. Also, you can look a little through it. They are both quite strong in structure. It would not easily break.

I think the poppy seeds don't necessarily have added value. You do feel them. The thicker variant, you can see that the poppy seeds have fallen down. This has a nice effect for the look of it.

Measuring the fire and water restistance

The gelatin foam slowly turns black and brown when it comes into contact with fire. You can see that the material will bubble and swell a little.

I measured the water resistance by placing the materials in boiling water for a few minutes. I immediately noticed that the agar agar (will be described below) immediately sank to the bottom and that the gelatin foam floated.

After a few minutes I wanted to remove the gelatin foam from the hot water. It disintegrated and melted.

Agar agar cooked with mandarine juice

This material is more flexible and elastic than the gelatin foam with sesame seeds. The gelatin foam with sesame seeds is also harder in texture than this one. Below is an overview of the material properties of this bioplastic.

Measuring the fire and water restistance

As you can see the material curls when it comes into contact with fire. You also see that, compared to the gelatin foam, the material becomes less black.

When I took the agar agar out of the water, nothing had changed in the structure and shape.

Experiental toolkit

Gelatine foam with poppy seeds

Below the toolkit filled in with my sister's opinion.

Mandarine juice agar agar

Below the toolkit filled in with my sister's opinion.

General conclusion assignment 2 and 3

The gelatin foam with poppy seeds has a funny structure caused by the poppy seeds. However, it is not very flexible compared to the mandarin agar agar. The mandarin agar agar also has a plus that it is waterproof. Both cannot withstand fire.

The mandarin agar agar feels nicer in the hand and it is actually played with immediately by the test person. This is not the case with the gelatin foam with poppy seeds. This is only felt briefly after which the test person has already seen it.

Future applications

I thought it would be fun for future applications to do something with the waterproof agar agar with mandarin. Because it is waterproof, this material is unique from the others. I made a moodboard to make an overview of the possibilities. The material is very flexible, sturdy and waterproof.

Rainboots are also quite flexible and here it is also important that the material is waterproof. It is necessary, however, that the material is sturdy. By using less glyceryne you would get a perfect material for rainboots.

I also found the dishwashing gloves a good future application. I tested the material on boiling water. The material could withstand this. When washing dishes you also have to deal with hot water so I think this is a good material for this.

Only thing about dishwashing gloves are that fewer and fewer people are doing the dishes by hand.

You can also make flexible water shoes. I think this is the best future application for what I found. It fits the material perfectly. Waterproof, sturdy and unique.

And for bags, you can basicly make this from every plastic. Only if you really want a waterproof sturdy one, this material will fit good.

I don't know if the agar agar mandarine material can be put in the oven, although it can withstand boiling water. That is why I'm not sure about the baking tins yet.

Zine

Circular systems

We live in a circular system that needs more attention to add another circular system with it. By the first circular system I mean the mass production. We live in an overcrowded, growing, western world what causes a mass production. Nowadays what comes with this is that products become cheap and people throw things away faster. When people throw away things faster, they support the mass production. This circle needs another circle what we call recycling. From recycled products, we can make biodegrable products what will make another circular system.

This week we also started making biodegradable material within the Makerslab: Bioplastic. Bioplastic is made from completely natural products. Because the material has the unique property of neutralizing CO2, savings are made on fossil raw materials. Composability is an additional property of certain types of bioplastics. This property can add value at the end of a product's life.

What is also nice about making bioplastic is that everyone can do it from their own kitchen. The ingredients are non-toxic, the cooking takes no more than 10 minutes and it should only dry for a few days. It doesn't get easier than this.

Lasercut experiments

The first lesson of this week we received an extensive tutorial and explanation about origami. We also had a workshop on this in the first week. With this inspiration I entered the week.

Everyone also drew a paper on that day that had two extremes. You could use this but it was completely optional. I chose to use these extremes for my designs. With the words wide and narrow I immediately went into a few inspiration books that I found in class.

Sample one

Nothing really came out of these books yet. I then walked to a laser cutter and made a quick design on the illustrator in the Makers Lab. This design consisted of several folding lines on an A4 paper. By kiss cutting this or making dots in it, the lines would be easier to fold. The end result should become a 3D pattern if it is folded correctly.

I chose to make dots for the folding lines.

Unfortunatly, it didn't worked out as it supposed to. Despite, I have learned that you are not supposed to fold everything in two directions. But that some lines have to be folded inwards and some outwards.

Sample two

As I tried the dots out, I now wanted to test the kiss cutting effect with the lasercutter. Kim brought some material to the Makers Lab and I was able to test a print on one of them. The material was in shape of a bunny.

I kiss cutted eyes in the bunny material. The left, yellow one, the power was lower than the right one as you can see in brightness of the design printed on it.

Sample three

The Makers Lab had a very nice pattern as an example. I also wanted to try this and make it myself. In no time I noticed that it was quite a job if you were going to make this yourself in illustrator. I asked Desiree if she would like to send me the template she obtained from the Makers Lab. I printed it out with the laser cutter and about 180 grams A4 paper. The first try didn't came out good because I used too less power (15.0 to be exact).

The holes in the paper where not deep enough. The second try worked out perfect. Here I used a power of 30.0 as you can see in the picture above.

So now, I tested the basics of the machine. The next step was to find a shape where I want to use those two extreme words and make a set out of it.

My definition of wide and narrow

I first want to set out my definition of wide and narrow because everyone can see it another way.

Wide are no sharp corners or curves. Wide is not close to each other. Wide has distance. Wide is long. Wide is stretched out.

Narrow has no space. Narrow is close together. Narrow has sharp corners or curves. Narrow is tight.

Note: I made a moodboard out of this. I used magazines and put it all together. Unfortunatly it's still in the Makers Lab and I didn't take a picture of it. At the bottom of the tab "The Assignment" you can see a GIF with the moodboard but not very clear because it's a GIF.

The assignment: STARS

The idea

The idea to make different stars from wide to narrow came from a sample. I made the star below to practice with the laser cutter. In the end I decided to take this star as a starting point and work further on it. I have made stars that have a more narrow appearance and stars that appear wider.

Star 1

Flat wooden plates fastened with small wooden circles into a star without sharp points.

The degrees of the points of the star are so large that it actually no longer resembles a star. I measured the thickness of the wood and used this size for the inlets of the surfaces. I made the circles twice as long as the length of the inlets. In this way I could easily press the circles into the planes and connect everything together.

Star 2

Wide origami star with different patterns and dotted folding line.

The words wide and narrow are all about the shape of the stars but are not based on the patterns in the stars. The patterns have been mainly small exercises for me to see what is possible on the laser printer and what's not.

With this star you can see that I tried to use the previous sample 3D pattern again, only smaller here. I could push this out a little bit but it was disappointing. This was because the stripes became so thin that the laser printer could not take them all. So I had to cut out part of the template in Illustator which meant that there was not really depth.

Star 3

Middle star of the set consisting of flat plates fastened together with little circles.

This star is based on the first, widest star that was successful. I now wanted to do the same with triangles added to make it more narrow. However, I ran out of wood, so I used a material that looked like wood, but also felt cardboardish.

The laser printer did not take this well. The edges turned black and gave off, and the laser printer didn't really want to go through.

In week 9 I wanted to make it again with real wood, but that did not happen because I could no longer enter maker's lab because of the corona virus.

I have now made the design flexible and convertible from 2D to 3D. You can turn the edges up and down. This is the middle gradation of the two extremes.

Star 4

Second middle star in the set made out of origami with laser cut patterns and striped folding line.

As I said, this was the first star I made from the set. A standard star that I double printed and glued together with folding lines to create a 3D effect.

Star 5

Most narrow star of the set made out of origami with a kiss cutted pattern inside and folding lines.

These pages and stars are all bounded in a selfmade lookbook which is located in the Makerslab. I wanted to put all the pages in the book, but due to Corona virus I can't do that now. Below the layout of the book. I chose purple and black because this reflects the color of the sky in the night when the stars come out. I used an accordeon binding technique I found on the internet and I used several tutorial to make it my own.

As you can see I laser cutted the cover of the book. I used the following settings:

The letters came out and that was the moment I thought I can re-use these letters to paste them on the outcutted letters to create a sort of 3D effect (see the gifs).

The material is a sort of black cardboard. Dusanka brought it with her and had some of them left which I could use. I liked the material immedietly. I thought that the color would totally fit the feeling of the stars and the hardness/softness of the material is perfect for the cover of a book. The purple pages inside is a thinner cardboard which I took from the Makers Lab inventory.

The first two pages consists the moodboard. I found purple tape which perfectly fitted the books layout. Unfortunetly I don't have a picture of this moodboard because I wasn't prepared at not seeing the book anymore because of the Corona virus.

Below you can see how the accordeon technic is applied.

Text zine

Disegno

Disegno, “the visual expression and clarification of the concept (of a building, W.N.) that someone has in her mind and that he imagines in her thoughts and builds up in the idea” For the assignment from this week, I used this term “Disegno”.

With a laser-cutter, we had to make a set of patterns or objects based on two extremes. In my case, these words were narrow and wide.

As a CMD student, I always outline my ideas immediately before I start working digitally. With this assignment I did not really do this. That is because I have never worked with the laser cutter before and I was too eager to make the device wait for some sketches on paper. Nevertheless, I have indeed applied the term Disegno to this assignment. I visually mapped out my ideas on Illustrator and I slowly built on these ideas. I ended up building on my first experiment on the laser-cutter. A basic star, folded in a 3D model. After this first experiment was finished, I came up with more and more ways how I could give a star a 3D effect and how I could shape it in a different way. In the end I made a set of 5 different stars.

Tutorial Cura

If you want to print something from the 3D printer, you have to download two programs. Fusion and Cura. With Fusion you make a 3D design and with Cura you place it on the printing bed of the Ultimaker. If it fits well, download it via this program to a USB stick that you put back in the 3D printer.

We learned how this process works in a small tutorial from Micky. We received an example 3D design that we had to upload in Cura. We went through the cura settings and then uploaded the cura file to a USB stick.

After choosing a material, according to me this was PLA, we turned on the printer and connected the material.

The next day the printer was finished and the object was ready. The next step is now learning Fusion and ultimately putting our own designs in Cura and printing them out.

Tutorial Fusion

After downloading Fusion at home, we started in class with a short tutorial on how Fusion works.

The teacher had an example ready for us to copy. Step by step, he explained how this worked after giving a general explanation of the functions and buttons that Fusion has.

Since I had never worked with the program before, I did not always keep up, but after asking enough questions, I was able to finish the example.

The second half of the tutorial, I tested some basics shapes which where not talked about yet. Laura helped me out with the donut you see on the left of the picture. On the right, I made a block. Then, I made a shell in it. That's a function in Fusion that you can delete the inside of the block. This is a perfect base for the mold I am going to make after this.

So now, I understand more or less the basics of Fusion. The next step is to make a mold in this programm.

The assignment: Making molds with the 3D printer

This week's assignment consists of designing and making 3 molds with the 3D printer for the open material archive that can be used for casting maerial samples. It is an assignment in duos and I did this with Kim Sinke. We both decided to make 1 of these molds and do the 3rd mold together.

The first mold is a 2.5D metamold object, for flexible material texture. We will use a vacuum former with this mold to create a mold of the mold. Kim was going to make this mold.

The second mold is also a 2.5D metamold, is the mold I was going to make. This one is for casting hard meterial structure. This metamold will be used to create a mold by casting flexible material to create the mold. This flexible mold will be used to cast a hard material.

The third mold, which we will make togehter, is a 3D mold consisting of two parts of a (poly)spericon or other geometric object. The design should include an airhole and a pouring hole for casting. The design should include fixtures for exact part placement, or the two parts of the mold can be nested.

The only requirements where that all 4 parts should fit on the printing bed of the Ultimaker 2 (20 x 20 cm). So each part is about 8cm x 8cm, height can vary.

End result

Kim made the mold which was going under the vacuum former.

I made the mold of a mold with circles in circles.

Together we made the 3D mold which was a robot.

The process

Making mold 2

I started with a block and used the shell function. This allowed me to make a good base of the mold.

It is important to pay close attention to the dimensions here, because the design must fit on the bed of the Ultimaker. The dimensions of the Ultimaker that we will use are 20 by 20 centimeters. Because it takes hours before 1 design is printed, the intention is to print 4 designs at a time so that everyone can finish their mold. This means that the size of each design should be approximately 8 by 8 centimeters.

I made a shell within a block of 8 by 8 centimeters. Then, I made a cylinder in this shell and extruded it by half a centimeter.

The donuts on the cylinder are evenly spaced in a circle. It was a hard to find out how to do this and whether this was possible at all. I asked Laura if she knew if this was possible and she said that it was indeed possible, but she no longer knew exactly how. She gave me a few clues after which I finally found it. I extruded these donuts as far as it could, and there, was my first mold to print.

Making mold 3

I made the third mold together with Kim. After looking on the internet and pinterest for inspiration, we finally figured out that a robot would be a nice idea. We have found a template that would be a good basis for a robot. We downloaded it in Cura, set support on and set it so that the print should work.

Unfortunately I went home sick this day after which I got the flu. Fortunately, Kim kept me informed.

The first print of the robot unfortunately went wrong because the plastic went up at night and the printer just kept going. Then it was uploaded to the printer again and this time it turned out fine!

Zine text

3D printing

Although the 3D printer has only recently gained public attention, the technology is not new. The technique of this printer has existed for more than 30 years. It only really became known among ordinary people when the price of the machine went down. This week, we also used the 3D printer for making a mold. I, a laywoman in 3d modeling, managed to make a mold on Fusion in no-time. This could mean that 3D printing can form the future, because it’s super easy and available for everyone.

What does this mean for the future?

If everyone has a 3D printer at home, it can be indirectly good for people and the environment. If small, convenient objects are made at home for peoples own use, causing the mass production to land in low wages and causing the CO2 emissions that the transport of all goods entails. The 3D printer also uses less raw materials. Printing is on demand, which means that the machine only comes into action when there is direct demand for it. Surplus products would be a thing of the past in an ideal 3D printed world.

First some theory

A sensor is an electronic device that is constantly measuring a physic variable. For example: temperature, distance, humidity, light, etc. And then transforms the physic variable in an electric signal. An actuator is an electronic device that transforms an electric signal in a physic variable (light, sound, etc.)

They are two kinds of sensors: digital and analog.

A digital sensor only detects two possible status: if it is working at 100% or at 0%.

An analog sensor measures continuously the variable and detects any proportional value between 100% and 0%. For this reason, the measure provided by the analog sensor is more precise than the one provided by the digital sensor. source: https://www.ksixmobile.com/en/post/difference-between-analog-and-digital-sensors-167.php & lessons in class

The process

Desiree and I made four analog sensors. Their all based on the following sensor which was given as a example.

This 'switch-sensor' is made of a bead that hangs on a cardboard by means of a piece of steel, copper tape and conductive wire.

When you move the cardboard back and forth, you switch the circuit on and off: you break the circuit and you close it.

By connecting this properly to the Arduino Uno, you can operate an LED light.

The following four sensors are made by Desiree and me. We used this example as inspiration.

Sensor one

This first sensor, looks a lot like the one above. The difference is that the ball in the middle is not a bead, but a marble. Also, we did'nt use the solder device. But in big lines, it's the same.

The difficult thing about this was that we had no beads. A bead has a hole in the middle where you can easily put the copper wire through and fasten it like this. With a marble it is quite a job to attach this to a copper wire because it keeps slipping or is not firmly attached.

Sensor two

The second sensor is also a hanging marble. Here, I have made the points that the marble should touch, higher (the soft balls).

As you may can see, I used copper wire to tie the copper tape to the soft ball. When I tested this on my Arduino of Desiree, it didn't work. Then, I used another wire that worked in my previous sensor, this worked immediatly. The other copper wire was not a good conductor.

Sensor three

The third sensor works also like the two before: tilting the paper to let the marble move, but here, the marble doesn't hang. With a hole in the middle the marble can move.

The marble is with a wire conneced to another marble on the other side. This ensures that the marble remains in the right place.

If you tilt it left or right, the marble will touch the copper tape and close the circuit.

Sensor four

This is the last sensor. The marble is connected to two wires which meet eachother on the back of the sensor. The idea was to role the marble to the other side.

So, after making these four switch sensors, I wasn't able to connect them immedietly to the Arduino because I didn't have a breadboard. In the 8th week my breadboard came and I tested the sensors below.

Connecting to the Arduino

The paperclipwires we soldered together in class were all still at Desiree place. I don't have a soldering machine at home, but this was not that necessary. I still attached the wires to the sensors with a paperclip. It was annoying that they detach very quickly when I moved the Arduino.

I used the setup of the breadboard from the video that Loes had put on DLO. No code was included, I used the Arduino to make it a circuit and to use the power.

The sensors

Final digital switch

Final digital switch connected to the Arduino

As you can see, I based my final input on the third input I made as an example.

The design consists of two marbles that are connected and are both on the other side of the carton. They are connected with a copper wire. The marble at the bottom is connected to the Arduino and the switch is operated at the top. If you move the marble at the top to the side, this will come into contact with the copper tape that is also connected to the Arduino. So, the circuit is then closed and the LED light turns on.

Zine

Analog & Digital

Digital and especially analog are broad words if we only look at the meanings they bring.

So, you have cheese analogues, an imitation cheese that does not consist cheese but substitute ingredients. You have a term called Analogy proof; this is a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is derived based on a comparison with another case. You also have Analogy in linguistics, psychology and biology. All with different meanings.

Analog and digital that we work with this week has to do with electronic inputs. An electronic circuit usually consists of an input and an output. The input is the controller of the circuit. This allows you to turn it on or off. You close the circuit so that current can flow through it or you interrupt the circuit so that no current can flow through and no output is possible.

The difference between an analog and a digital input has to do with how it works. A digital sensor works on zeros and ones. That is basically, on or off. An analog sensor, on the other hand, measures a quantity and converts it to a voltage. This voltage changes continuously in relation to the quantity to be measured.

This week I focused on making a digital sensor. By doing this, I immediately and easily understood how a button worked, which I had never really thought about.

Text zine

UV printer

Ways to hurt yourself

• Niet naar de laser kijken tijdens het printen.

• Pas op met het sluiten van de klep dat je vingers daar niet tussen komen.

Ways to hurt the machine

• Haal je print er pas uit als er op het schermpje van de UV printer staat "PRINT READY".

• De klep altijd dicht laten, zelfs als de UV printer niet gebruikt wordt. Door het open laten kan de inkt in de cartridges uitdrogen.

Ways to annoy others

• Niet printen als er niks in zit.

• Als de printer aangeeft dat de inkt op is, melden bij een leidinggevende. Alleen een leidinggevende mag de cartridge vervangen.

• Reserveer de UV printer van te voren om er zeker van te zijn dat je hem kunt gebruiken.

• Leg je voorwerp waar je op print binnen de kader.

Andere belangrijke zaken

• Draai het voorwerp waarop geprint wordt 180 graden als je hem op het bedje legt.

• Er ligt een handleiding naast de computer waarin staat hoe je vanuit Illustrator kunt printen.

• Voor het beste resultaat op vlakke materialen printen.

• Zorg ervoor bij het afplakken dat er geen tape uitsteekt ivm met hoogte waarop geprint gaat worden.

• Er is een bak achter de computer met schoonmaakmiddelen voor als er op het bed geprint is.

• Zorg ervoor dat de vacuüm zuiger aan staat.

Oven & lijnbuigmachine

Ways to hurt yourself

• Gebruik bij de oven de handschoenen als je er iets uit wilt halen.

• Raak de draad bij de lijnbuigmachine nooit aan.

Ways to hurt the machine

• Zet de oven en de lijnbuigmachine uit na gebruik.

• Er mag geen materiaal in de oven dat chloor bevat. Als je het niet zeker weet vraag het aan begeleiding.

• Plexiglas op maximaal 180 graden bakken. Er staat een streep aangegeven op de oven.

Ways to annoy others

• Leg de handschoenen op de juiste plek terug.

• Roosters liggen onder de oven.

• Als er restjes op de roosters zitten maak dat dan schoon. De restjes kunnen anders in het werk terecht komen van de volgende gebruikers. Doe dit evt. met een staalborstel.

Andere belangrijke zaken

• Rechts in de hoek naast de oven staat bakpapier.

• Je hebt weinig tijd met afkoelen van materiaal. Als je iets moet buigen doe dat binnen 20 seconde.

• Bij het gebruik van de lijnbuigmachine buig altijd naar jezelf toe.

• Aan en uit knop van de oven, rood = aan, groen = uit.

• Gele stip op de oven bij de timer is oneindig tijd.

• Er is een thermometer in de oven.

• Als je iets niet weet, vraag het dan aan begeleiding.

Tuesday morning we did a letterpress workshop at the Grafische Werkplaats in Amsterdam.

We made posters in duos with old letterpress machines that you operate by hand. I liked the experience because this technique is no longer used in contemporary life. We have been creatively creating new letters by using different shapes and characters.

Wednesday morning we went with a large group of the class to the textile museum in Tilburg. Here we got acquainted with the first textile machines that existed and we did a workshop. At the workshop, we learned an ancient Japanese sewing technique that was used to beautifully repair old, worn out clothes. The technique was called Sashiko.

First some theory

Before I started working, I got a lot of information in the tutorial given in the lessons. Below I have summarized what I have taken from this in my process.

Circuits

To work with electromagnets, I first need to know how a circuit works. An electrical circuit is a path or line through which an electrical current flows. There are three types of circuits:

Proper circuits When using a voltage source we add what is known as a ”load” to the circuit. This can be LED’s, resistors, etc. Basically anything that will cause a voltage drop because the electrical current wants to flow from a higher voltage to a lower voltage.

Short circuits If no load is present in the circuit, it's a short circuit. This is dangerous, because there is nothing to restrict the current flow, and you can end up with burned wires, damage to the voltage source or a quickly-drained (or exploded!) battery.

Broken circuits This is an open or broken circuit, which is a circuit that is incomplete. Although not dangerous like the short circuit, it will ultimately fail to work because voltage can’t reach the components.

Kirchoff's Law

Kirchhoff's Law says the following: The voltage drop across the resistor, in addition to the forward voltage drop of the LED always equals the supply voltage (when in series). So, all the voltage generated is and should be used up by components in the circuit energy build-up, or unlimited current flow produces heat to release the excess energy (Kirchoff’s Voltage Law). Also, Current is the same across the entire circuit (Kirchoff’s Current Law).

Ohm's Law

In short, Ohm's law is a formula used to calculate the relationship between voltage, current and resistance in an electrical circuit. The formula is as follows: V=I*R. Voltage is the difference in electric potential between two points, current is rate at which electric charge flows and resistance is the ****measure of a material’s ability to block electric current.

Some other, basic things I learned about electricity, is that electricity always flows from + to -. Also, electricity follows the path of least resistance, conductive materials allow electricity to flow and resistive materials allow electricity to flow, but with a smaller current. Source: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/voltage-current-resistance-and-ohms-law & lessons in class

Paper circuits

Before we start working on the main assignment: the DIY speaker, we first got some simple assignments that made us understand the basics of how electromagnets work. With every exercise, the intention was to conduct electricity and turn on a light.

Everyone has received an a5 page with the instructions of the assignment. This same page also shows exactly which elements you need and where they should be placed. You can paste the elements exactly on the image on the page and assemble them.

To make the circuit work, I had to be sure that the circuit would be a loop, so that the electrodes can flow from Anode (+) to Cathode (-). This is called a current. Only the components that are connected in the loop are functional. Important thing to keep in mind that electricity will flow through the path of least resistance. An unintended connection between the + and the - can lead to a short circuit.

LED & KVL

The first paper circuit worked quite simple. With the example printed on the paper, I prepared a battery of 3 volt electricity, an LED light, copper tape and a resistor. The resistor is necessary to prevent the LED from burning out.

Dimmer & Ohm's Law

The second assignment is a little bit different. Also here, I use copper tape, a resistor, a 3 volt battery and an LED light. Only a velostat has been added here. The assignment is to make a dimmer light. The harder you press, the brighter the light should shine. We will do that by adding a material with variable resistance (a pressure sensitive material called Velostat).

By pressing the sheet of pressure sensitive material, conductive particles come closer together, so more current can flow through. Velostat is a plastic combined with carbon and can be found in electronics packaging material. After placing the copper tape and components unto the circuit I cut the line with a scissor so that I can fold the flap. Then, I place the piece of velostat on top of the copper tape in the defined area. Now, I can close the flap and apply varying pressure by pinching and releasing the fold.

Parallel LED's and KVL

The last excersize was almost the same as the first one. For me, it was very easy and I had no troubles with it. The difference was that it's not one LED light that has to turn on, but two. In the first exersize I already turned two lights on so this was almost the same but then with some space between them. Unfortunatley, I lost the picture where I made this circuit, but here you can see how it worked.

The Assignment: A DIY speaker

For this duo-assignment, I will develop, together with my compagnon, a DIY soft speaker by designing and fabricating a coil (out of copper wire, copper tape, conductive textile and/or conductive thread) and a membrane (out of paper, textile, other).

Together we will solder an amplifier and a hacked jack connector and learn how to connect a speaker circuit and power it with a lab power supply.

The artist/engineer duo EJ Tech, Plusea (Hannah Perner-Wilson) and soft circuiteer Liza Stark started with this work and now, we are going to build upon their work and look for more ideas.

Learning goals this assigment:

Practicing Ohm’s law, experiment with different types of hot and cold soldering, and learn how to use a multimeter to test and debug electronic circuits.

Assembling the amplifier

I completed the assignment working together with Duncan.

First of all, we assembled the amplifier.

The amplifier consists of a few parts. A mono amp, where all the wires go to. A jack connector, which you can connect to a phone where music is played from. A crocodile clip cut through the middle, so that you have two and both you can attach to the coil. And finally a + and - wire that you can connect to a power supply.

We had to assemble the Jack connecter ourselves. This was not very difficult. In principle, you unscrew the connector, solder a + and - wire to it and screw it closed again. Where you should pay attention to here is that the two wires do not touch each other. Otherwise it could cause a short circuit. The - you fix in the ground of the mono-amp and the + you put in the +.

Last, I screw the crocodile clips into the mono-amp with an ultra thin screwdriver and so, the amplifier is ready to use.

After this we started designing the coils.

Coils

There are many options to design a good-working coil. We could use a conductive thread with a dot pattern design and embroider the coil onto membrane. We could use conductive iron-on textile or use copper sticker foil and the vinyl cutter. After seeing and discussing all our options, we thought about making something on textile. Why? Just to try something out.

Coil one

Our first idea was to create a braided design with copper sticker foil. In this way it should look like checkerboard . We tried this on denim. If it worked, the idea was to make it more neat.

Unfortunately, no Ohm went through this. We have tried a lot to make it work, but unfortunately without a positive result. The cupper tape did not conduct properly. Looking at some classmates, it turned out that this material didn't work for them either.

Before I came to the conclusion that it was on the tape, I first debugged the amplifier to see if it was due to another underlying problem. I did this with a multimeter. By testing different pieces of the circuit with this I found out that there was no conduction between a certain part that I soldered. Nothing had collided so it was strange, but I soldered this part together with Kaj with an already working example coil, I tested the amplifier again. Now sound came out so debugging was successful.

Then we came up with a completely different idea and we continued with it. Below I will tell you more about it.

Coil two

A week ago, we learned an interesting way of embroidery at the textile museum. We liked to apply this to the design. It is an ancient Japanese technique that is better known as Sashiko and was used to prevent wear.

The next day Duncan brought different types of textile with him. After looking at everything and discussing how we want our design, we chose the textile artificial leather. By making a hole in this artificial leather and sticking another fabric behind it, it is a good start to use Sashiko's technique.

Then, we had to find a good conductor, which will conduct enough Ohm. I saw a sort of thin copper wire that worked on other designs some classmates had. Because of the corona virus, I couldn't go back to the Makers Lab to find out what kind of wire it exectly was.

We made a design on Illustrator. With a laser cutter, we printed the design on the fabric and we began to embroider.

After the embroidery was in, we measured how many ohms went through the coil with a multimeter. Unfortunately this was only 0.8. We have come to the conclusion that if we want this coil to work, we have to embroider a few meters further. Unfortunately that did not work for us, because the design would be no longer as we envisioned.

That's how we started our 3rd and final design.

Coil three

This design has the quote "Less is more". Since Duncan and I had a comprehensive plan and idea in the first two, we came up with the idea to turn it around. First see what works and build on that. As a material I took a white, thin and soft feeling fabric. As a wire, I used a thinner copper wire with a good resistance because it's combined with a non-conductive wire. Also with this wire, I couldn't get the exact name of it because of the Corona virus.

The design is inspired by examples that the maker's lab offered to the students. The intention was that I would embroider a simple spiral in the fabric. After I made a round I decided to see how much Ohm went through this. I was positively surprised that this was more than enough for a working speaker. I tested the coil on the amplifier and sound did indeed come out. Mission accomplished. Less is more.

Electronics zine

The design

colors

After seeing some books, magazines and examples of color combinations in the Makers Lab, we ended up using only 1 color on each page instead of 2. With 1 color you can still make a lot of beautiful designs and it offers our classmates a nice challenge to try this out.

We have chosen to let our classmates choose between the colors red and orange.

paper

Because we only use one color, we did not like to do the color of the paper basic white. We have chosen to choose (light) blue for this background. Red or orange fits well with this. The combination gets a sense of electronics.

We also paid attention to the thickness of the paper. The cover is darker blue and has a thickness of 160 grams. The inside is a lighter blue with a weight of 120 grams. To make sure we had enough paper (because we wanted to make a zine for everyone), I bought some extra paper from the Stumpel near my house.

The printing

Everyone forwarded their individual zine pages to our mail. I took all the pdfs and put them in 1 pdf file. Desiree has now put them all on Illustrator.

Then I started sorting all the pages together with Desiree so that it will be printed well in one go. With an example zine that we had put together (see image below), we had put all the names in the right order on the right pages, we printed the zine pages on a normal printer and attached them together to create a nice example. We used this to put everything in right order in Illustrator. This was a precise job that required a lot of attention. Because we looked at it with 4 eyes, this went perfectly.

Then we opened the Illustrator file on the computer of the RISO printer. Unfortunately, this did not work as we wanted. We made a PDF file of the final format and started printing from the RISO printer.

After printing the first master, we had some struggles with putting it back in the printer in a good way when we started printing it on both sides. After a few tests we found the right way and we were able to print the entire zine.

The binding

We took the best prints from the drying rack, put them in order and folded them in the middle. We would have been better off folding this per page afterwards to make it more precise. After folding we put in two staples and the zine went under the book cutter.

With some explanation from the people who worked in the Makers Lab, we cut the zine straight. Now he was ready for the show and tell.

Note: We printed the zine about 30 times so that we could make the zine booklet for everyone. The prints are still unbound in the Makers Lab and we could not work on it anymore due to the Corona virus.

My indivual zine page

Zine text

Zine cover

Desiree provided a nice introduction and reflection of the zine and I provided the look of the cover of the zine.