The Skeleton Suit System

Posted Posted in Final Year Product Design

Today I met with Bethan to talk about where I am at on my project. I explained to Beth how my prototypes had fared in each test and where the design had gone. I explained how I have decided to work with the Skeleton suit design instead now. Bethan suggested how the Skeleton suit would be best if it worked as a system with the other designs I have created. She pointed out that I need to evaluate the purpose of each of my devices and see which would best fit that purpose together as a system.   After what Bethan has said, I have looked at all of the devices and I feel I have realised that the best combination could come from partnering the Skeleton Suit and the Distance Sensor, as design which I will now start to develop…

3D Printed Crutches?

Posted Posted in Final Year Constellation

Over the past few days, I have been pondering the idea of creating 3D printed crutches of some sort for the technical report design section. Having crutches which would fit the user’s hands and dimensions could be a really useful idea, though I am unsure about the reality of printing such objects . I have also mulled over the idea of making glasses and I just feel that there is not enough to the project to undertake it for the proposal. Having only a single base part which would be designed for an individual yet in the style they want, makes the design way too undecided. It would be impossible just a single product for the report… Crutches do seem like a worthwhile endeavor and I think that they could really measure up against some of the work done in previous years. I would feel content with pursuing this idea […]

Skeleton Suit & The breaking of the lasers

Posted Posted in Final Year Product Design

Today hasn’t been exactly excellent. Unfortunately, all the lasers that I was using in my laser prototypes have broken and are unavailable to buy again. Since this design is no longer feasible within the time frame I have left, I have decided to turn around the project and focus on the skeleton suit design. I have given more thought as to how the design might work, remembering a technology called electroluminescent wire aka EL Wire, a lighting technology similar in a way to flexible neon lighting. I am going to try to develop this further and see where it takes me…

Laser Prototype

Posted Posted in Final Year Product Design

Today I decided to further develop the laser bubble prototype design, by 3D printing a prototype to attach to the bike. I have previously tested the prototype, but due to the makeshift creation of the original prototype, the laser emitters being used were almost broken.   The prototype was printed using ABS which will hopefully prove to be a strong structure, which should keep the lasers from damage. The prototype easily twists and locks into the holder which can easily be attached to the bike on any tubular surface.

Prototype 180 Light Test

Posted Posted in Final Year Product Design

Over the past two days I have manufactured a new prototype for my 180 degree light design. Instead of hand making some of the more complex parts, I decided to 3D print them to get perfect accuracy for holding all the parts.       The design is quite simple, with 4 RED LEDs diffusing light through the two acrylic arms. At first, I used a permanent battery pack, however I later decided to hook up the arduino and distance sensor. To test the prototype, a friend and I cycled down the incredibly busy Newport road in Cardiff with a camera watching the back of the bike: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svTkHRqegU8&w=420&h=315]

3D Printed Glasses Idea

Posted Posted in Final Year Constellation

Today I have been thinking a little more about what I could be doing for the technical report design section. The idea of glasses came up when talking to a few people, where the glasses could be printed for the size of the wearer’s face instead of having a standard size. Whether this would be an interesting undertaking or not, I am not really sure, but it is an idea… Having started thinking of ideas again however, has boosted my confidence a little when it comes to designing ideas. Whilst I am still slightly dissatisfied with these ideas, it is at least something…

Prototype Testing Tutorial and Technical Report Design Tutorial

Posted Posted in Final Year Constellation, Final Year Product Design

Today, I have had both my tutorial with Bethan discussing my work on my product design prototypes and my tutorial discussing my technical report design ideas with Paul. Bethan was keen that I further experimented with my prototypes to identify which design elements were successful and which could be cut. She agreed that whilst individually my designs did solve the problems arising from my brief and PDS, we were both unsure as to whether they would work as a fluid system. It is difficult to measure my work against any real criteria as the examples available are only those of my peers, who are all doing very different projects. I feel as though my work isn’t going as well as it could be, a problem I seem to be suffering from greatly this year… Paul was quite pleased with the area’s I had been looking into and proposed the idea […]

Technical Report Design Ideas

Posted Posted in Final Year Constellation

This weekend I have been mulling over some of the prospects for creating a design utilising the research I have attained within my technical report. Overall, I concluded that the future of 3D printing was customisable products, where a product can be customised for each user and created easily using a 3D printer. My current area of focus is revolving around medical products such as casts for broken limbs which could be easily printed per user and provide a greater degree of comfort in comparison to other products. I have also been considering items such as shoes which are often designed for the average user’s foot, but often do not fit correctly causing discomfort. I do however feel as though these products don’t quite match up to the product types chosen by the past examples I have been working from. I feel as though the work I have been doing […]

Concept Development and Prototype Testing

Posted Posted in Final Year Product Design

This week I have been working on further developing my five concept designs and adapting them perhaps into a single system. Overall however I do feel like I might be accidentally creating a mismatch of product ideas into a system which might not make sense or work well together. I have also been working on creating a testing rig for the 180 Light, which uses light created with LEDs diffused through acrylic to create an arc of light on the front and rear of the bike. The test right does however suffer from some stability issues due to an error in sizing the parts, which resulted in a prototype that was accidentally twice the size intended.

Another Interim VIVA

Posted Posted in Final Year Constellation, Final Year Product Design

Today I completed another interim viva in front of my tutorial group. Overall, I feel the viva was quite successful, though I did feel a little under prepared as I had not rehearsed the presentation a great deal. Unfortunately, as I was concerned about remembering what I was saying, I said “Uh” and “Umm” a fair amount of times and I also missed out some key features about one of my designs, which was quite annoying. Overall, I think that with practice, I would have been far more capable of presenting my work well, but the time to rehearse just wasn’t available due o having to work right up to the day of the presentation. I also had my tutorial with Paul regarding my technical report where I was able to tell him that I had completed my report. Paul was fairly pleased at this and we discussed what was […]