While we were characterizing each drumhead response we were also designing and creating a support for our voice coil. After using calipers to ensure a tight fit for the motor we created CAD models of support system using Catia. You can see in the following diagram an assembly of just three supporting components for our drumstand.
We decided to use a 3mm thick wooden board for material and create notches in each side so they would snap together. To cut each board we decided to use the laser cutter found in the graduate shop. For our first time cutting our parts we overlooked an important factor. The laser cuts an extra half a millimeter for each side so we were producing parts that did not fit as snug as we would have liked. The great part about the laser cutter we found was that it took at most 10min to cut each individual part. Most of our time was spent creating the .dxf drawings for Correldraw. A picture of the final .dxf drawing we used for the laser cutter can be seen below.
After about two more trials we obtained our final components that fit tightly. The assembly and electronics will be discussed in the construction section.
I am very impressed with your body assembly - the way you made the pieces slot together for extra rigidity is very slick, and you've really taken advantage of the capabilities of the laser cutter. This is especially important in a drum, which will receive constant impact loading, as you guys saw in your head-actuator connection. I didn't notice this at the expo, which is probably a good thing, showing that the structure functioned as intended and didn't fall apart.
ReplyDeleteThe use of laser cutter to create the housing was well executed. I played with the instrument during the expo and I must say the product was very solidly built.
ReplyDeleteI'll reiterate what Sean said. Dovetailing the different laser-cut pieces was a really good idea. We definitely should have included more interlocing pieces in our structure so that we would not have had to make things aligned or perpendicular by hand. Good forethought.
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