Category: Intro to Fabrication

Intro to Fab: Mounting Motors

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication, Uncategorized

This is the link to an interactive view of my 3D modeled camera housing. https://skfb.ly/6P88O

The motor I will be mounting is an electrical shutter driver. It has a small motor that takes 5V and opens the shutter mechanism. As long as voltage is supplied it will open.

From the front you can see the mounting space for the shutter. I have two 3/4″ mounting holes to further secure the shutter.

I created the viewfinder based on a rangefinder camera I took apart. This gives about a 35mm view from the beginning of the focal plane.

Below you can see my snap fit design. There is a very small gap between the components and a chamfered edge on the lid. This way it will stay locked but isn’t so hard to get into place.

I modeled the film holder after the original Minolta 16 design.

The two pieces on the side will be glued after and will be used to advance the film.

I measured and added a oled screen hole to display shutter speed and battery life. There are four m3 screw holes to mount this display. There is also a hole for the rotary encoder that will control the shutter speed.

Intro to Fab: Materials and Fasteners

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication

For materials and fasteners, I decided to attach the wooden camera handle I made with my 3d printed camera housing. This is PLA with wood that I’ve carved and stained. First I needed to measure holes for the threads in the handle. I knew I would be going through many iterations of the camera body so glue didn’t make any sense. I have a kit of m3, m4, and m5 screws and bought some threaded inserts at Tinkershere. The screws are m3’s and I drilled a hole in the wood hat would barely fit the insert, and then I hammered it in tight.

I used my Dremel to make the curves more pronounced and pleasing to grip in the palm area. I then smoothed everything as much as i could before moving on to sanding.

I used 80 and 120 grit sandpaper to smooth the surface.

I stained the wood after sanding with red chestnut, which is an oil based penetrating wood stain.

I was really happy with how dark the color of the handle turned out. I did two coats to make sure it kept as much of that as possible.

I used two m3 screws to fasten the handle to the body of the camera.

This is a quick layout of where some of the electronics will be in the final design with the motorized shutter.

Intro to Fab: Project Enclosures

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication, Uncategorized

For my project enclosure I decided to finally house an old project of mine. My roommate and I created an automatic watering system for plants with a sunken reservoir. This would take water in through one hose and pump it through the output house into the water basin.

I took a trip to the hardware store and I was immediately inspired by the electrical boxes. I thought it would make a great enclosure for our system based on size and mounting holes. I found a plate with an S hook that would be used to attach the box to any plant base.

The look of the electrical boxes isn’t too pleasing so I decided to paint it with one shot. I was told that this would be the best paint for metal. Although the fact that these boxes will be used indoors only I probably could have spray painted it.

After installing the S hook on the outside, I began measuring for a 3d printed piece. This would enclose the large opening but leave room for two hoses.

I modeled and printed the piece.

This is what the enclosure looks like hanging off the side of the planter.

Week 3: The Laser Cutter

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication

This week I was inspired by the dial designs on the ITP Intro to Fab website under “Make a Potentiometer Dial.” I started with some inspiration and sketching in Adobe Illustrator.

I picked up white and translucent acrylic to laser cut my dials.

I measured the diameter of my potentiometer knob, and found it to be 0.2345 inches.

I loaded my design into the computer attached to the 60W laser, and applied the recommended settings for acrylic.

I cut out different pieces, one that could independently move the shutter speed with a little knob on the end. The other piece is where all of the etching for the numbers would be.

The piece with the knob will be the thing actually moving the dial itself. I used the sharpie/dry erase marker method. I am not super happy with how the etching came out, this is partly due to the font I chose in Illustrator. I will definitely be doing a second pass on these to make my adjustment knob larger and the etching more clear. I was happy how nicely it fit and the general sizing.

Intro to Fabrication Week 2: Guides and Repeatability

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication

This week for fabrication, I learned an important lesson. While attempting to create something I can use in my physical computing project, I realized how hard it would be to repeat things that rely heavily on carving/sanding. I originally thought my project would be five camera handles, but while attempting to make the best camera handle I could I realized it would require a lot of hand carving with a dremel. I started with some drawings and inspiration from camera handles I already liked.

I used dimensions from camera handles I liked and formed them into my own design.

After finishing this first handle I realized I needed to make a more repeatable design. In order to do so, I bought some wood that had an angle on one corner, this way it I would just need to cut them down to size and make holes for finger placement.

I also drilled holes in the top and side to connect wires later on.

Overall this was a much more repeatable design and I think that it will actually work better with my camera as it will attach to the side of the camera with the straight edge.

Intro to Fab: Week 1 Flashlight

by Will Politan, posted in Intro to Fabrication, Uncategorized

My main goal for fabrication this semester is in practical hardware design. Keeping this in mind, I wanted to create a usable flashlight with a practical design that felt good in the hands. The first thing I needed was the light, and instead of using a bunch of LED’s I researched and found that these little circular LED’s are cheap and powered off of low voltage. I bought this item from Canal Street Lighting Co.

The light came with a switch and a battery terminal. I cut out the switch and the LED patch, as well as some of the battery contacts.

I picked up a cardboard tube from the junk pile of a hardware store and this would serve as the shape for my flashlight.

I grabbed a rubber stopper that fit it as well in order to be able to place the flashlight down and have it stand up on its own.

This small funnel would act as the conical shape for the reflector. I cut pieces of aluminum foil to fill the inside.

Looking at the back of the LED I found a 3V input, and happened to have a CR123 3V battery around. I created a little battery terminal out of cardboard and hot glue. I used the battery contacts on either side.

I soldered all of the contacts to the battery and back to the original switch that came with the light. I cut a little hole out of the cardboard for the switch.

I then cut a piece of diffusion to cover the flashlight. I thought this pattern would look interesting with the paper I chose to wrap the rest of the flashlight.

This is the final look of the flashlight and it is able to stand up like I had imagined. Next time I would like to get it brighter as a 3v led is not super bright but would get the job done in the dark. Below is a video of how that looks.