This is a Page to document the progress off our subject: 'Fablab Making'.

During the first lesson we worked in groups and held a brainstorm session, about things we could/wanted to make in the FabLab.

My idea was to make a lamp or a simple watch. I chose to make the lamp, mostly because a watch is pretty hard to make. The first idea was a lamp with a straight stand. The lamp consisted of a cube on the top with a lamp in it on a stand.The cube has a design on every side.

After lesson 1 i made a paper/ cardboard model of the cube, with scale 1:1 (see pictures).

MoSCoW Analyse.

M - must haves: The lamp itself must be in the cube. There has to be a 'mechanical' arm to function as a stand. Also the cube must have some kind of design on it.

S - should haves: The 'Mechanical' arm must be strong enough to maintain it's position.

C - could haves: The 'mechanical' arm could have a gear mechanism to make it even more stronger and stay better in position.

W - won't haves: ?

Step 1: Les 2

In lesson 2 I continued brainstorming what i could do to make the design of the lamp original. I came up with the idea to change the stand a bit. the stand wont be a straight piece of wood, it will be a mechanical arm.

I started making a lot of sketches, and eventually i came up with a design, which can be seen in the pictures. The sizes located in the drawing are all in millimeter, these I want to maintain and use in the actual product. The idea is to go from a straight stand to a mechanical arm. the arm only has to move up, down, backwards and forwards a bit for the time being. I might add a option to rotate the arm later, but it's gonna cost some time. I have chosen to print all the parts for the arm with a 3D printer.

In preparation for Lesson 3, I made a Model out of cardboard of the arm. This also has a scale of 1:1 (see pictures)

I downloaded Inventor, a program to make 3D models for printing. I already made parts of the arm in inventor, photo's and some printed parts will come next week.

Step 2: Lesson 3 & 4

I'n these lessons i started printing out a part i made at home. This part functions as the connection between the mechanical arm and the base plate.

The printing took +/- 45 minutes.

In lesson 4 i printed out another one of these

Also, in lesson 4, i had been thinking about printing the full arm. this didn't seem like a good idea because it would take a huge amount of time. The decision was made quickly, I was going to make part of the arm from wood.

Photo's of the finished part will follow next week.

Step 3: Lesson 5

In lesson 5 we started working with Arduino, an open-source computer platform. That lesson i worked together with a friend, we had no idea what we were doing in the beginning, but eventually we got the hang of it. Neither of us are going to put it in our projects though, it is too complicated.

After lesson 5 I went to our local hardware store, to buy a power cord with a switch, a lightbulb and some bolts and nuts (R10 x 40MM). I chose for a cord with a switch so it's easier to turn the power on and off. The bolts and nuts will keep everything together, they will connect the mechanical arm to the lamp and the base plate.

In the weekend I went to the hardware store again to buy some multiplex. I made some lines for the saw cuts and circles for the holes where the bolts go.

The last picture are the models I printed last week.

Step 4: Lesson 6

I couldn't make lesson 6 because is was sick, so I didn't really know what happened in the lesson.

What i did do was make a new design to assemble the lamp in the design (see pictures).

Step 5: Lesson 7

in advance of lesson 7 I did some designing in illustrator to make a design for the lamp. I also made a file to use the lasercutter to cut the armpieces (see pictures).

After lesson 7 I printed out the assembly part to connect the lamp and the arm.

On the tuesday after lesson 7, I went to the Fablab to cut and engrave the plexiglass I bought. you can see the result in the pictures. It worked out well, i think.

when i got home to assemble the lamp, it turned out my bolts were too small, so i had to get some longer ones. at the hardware store i got some bolts and extra nuts that were: (60mm x 10R). The mechanical arm can now be assembled.

Also I started glueing the plexiglass together with some modelling glue, as can be seen in the picture.

The only thing left to do is find a material strong/ heavy enough to support the full arm and lamp.

Step 6: Lesson 8

In advance of lessen 8, i started to assemble the lamp. I began with the mechanical arm. wich i then drilled to the stand. for the stand i used a piece of staircase cover. when the arm was fully assembled with bolts and nuts, i started glueing the pieces of plexiglass together to form a cube. Once the cuve was formed, I glued the Piece that holds the lightbulb in place and put the socket in it. I started assembling the lamp itself to the arm. but once i started tightening the bolts, the part where the lamp fits, broke. I had to think of a Fix, because it was already glued.

I made another piece to strenghten the assembly part. which i printed in lesson 8.

After lesson 8 i glued it to the assembly part and it all worked out well. Pictures can be seen above.