Button LED Target

Welcome to our Button LED Target Design!

This instructable uses a combination of fun skills and devices to create a target design that will illuminate a specific color when hit through the use of buttons and other components, highLIGHTING your target achievements! :D

Provided to you by a team of students from Metro Early College High School!

Background of Project: This project began as a final project after our DESIGN cohort classes Advanced Mechatronics, Digital Electronics, and Engineering Logic. The general goal of this project was to use what we learned - and learn new skills - to create a project that we could make using the materials we had access to or could order within a $15 budget. While we were able to brainstorm a variety of fun ideas, our chosen idea was a crossbow and target combination.

Supplies

Supplies:

• Wooden Square Base (22 in x 21 1/2 in)
• Wooden Stand Piece (15 9/16 in length x 3/4 in width x 2 3/8 in height)
• Polycarbonate Circle Rings (Overall Diameter: 22 in with 1/4 inch of space between each ring)
• Medium Breadboard
• LEDs (3)
• Resistors (~1k Ω)
• Buttons (8)
• Balsa Wood Sticks (0.181 in x 0.181 in)
• Wires (~185 in)
• Springs: Music-Wire Steel Compression Springs (1.25 in Long, 0.72 in OD, 0.61in ID)
• Large Screw (1)(~75.39 mm)
• Electrical Tape (or other study tape)

Tools:

• A USB
• A Drill
• Marker(s)
• Sandpaper
• Sanding File
• Measuring Tape
• A Hot Glue Gun
• CNC Machine (in this case a Forest Scientific Convert-A-Table CNC Router/Plasma Cutter)
• OnShape CAD Website
• Wire Stripper
• Power Supply Box (~3 V)
• Diagonal Cutting Pliers
• Original Prusa MINI+ 3D Printer
• Miter Saw (or other type of Saw)
• Soldering Kit: Includes Soldiering Iron, Brass Wool, and "44" Rosin Core Solder

Step 1: CAD Design and 3D Printing!

Link to OnShape Peg Holder Design

Tools: OnShape CAD Website

Design Considerations:

The design linked above for the peg holders is a simple, adjustable design that can be changed in size, width, and shape to fit your needs. The main parts of this design focus on a square hole for the peg and two holes with one on each side of the center hole that will fit a screw to attach the component if you choose to use screws, however the polycarbonate we printed was thin so we attached the peg holders to the rings using hot glue. If you choose to hot glue, it may be helpful to remove the side holes.

Why is this component important?

This component is important because it will be the part attached to the rings that holds the balsa wood stick that will be pushing the button when the ring is pressed. The design above does not include a printed stick as it uses the balsa wood stick to press the button for ease in adjusting the balsa wood stick sizes to the distance between the rings and button if necessary.

Step 2: Base Set Up (Wood Base, Wires, & Buttons)

Supplies:

• Wires
• Buttons
• Square Wood Base
• Electrical Tape (or other sturdy tape)

Tools:

• Measuring Tape
• Marker(s)

Sub-Steps:

1. Attain a wooden square base that is able to fit a circle of your desired overall diameter. For this project my group used a square base of 22 in x 21 1/2 in to fit a circle with an overall diameter of 22 in.
2. Once the wooden base is attained, the button placement follows as you determine the amount of buttons you'd like and where they would be best placed. It may be helpful to mark the locations with marker! In the design that is uploaded, a total of 8 buttons were used with 1 in the bullseye, 3 in the middle ring, and 4 in the outer ring.
3. After placing the buttons, it may be helpful to make a line from the buttons to the desired location of your breadboard and measure the distance to cut the appropriate length of wires for the buttons.
4. Then cut the appropriate lengths of wire using a wire cutting tool (such as diagonal cutting pliers) and a wire stripper tool to remove the protection off the wire.
5. Although it is not necessary, it may be helpful to use tape to secure the wires into place!

Step 3: Soldering and Gluing!

Supplies:

• Wires
• Buttons
• Square Wood Base

Tools:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Soldering Kit: Includes Soldiering Iron, Brass Wool, and "44" Rosin Core Solder

Sub-Steps:

1. Now that the wires have been secured into place and the buttons are placed in the designated spots, the soldering process can begin. To begin, plug in the soldering iron rod and allow it to reach a hot enough temperature to melt the Rosin Core Solder metal.
2. Once the iron has met an adequate temperature, use the iron to warm the metal of both the wire and button wires that you want to solder together.
3. After the metal parts of both the wire and button are hot, use an end of the rosin core solder and connect it slightly to the hot two wires and iron rod to create a small ball of solder that should connect and hold together the two components (wire and button). Repeat this step for each side of the button you are connecting and for each button.
4. After the button and wire have been securely soldered for each button, use super glue to secure the button into place.
5. Then use hot glue around each button and over the soldered part of the wire to secure the button and wire into place and protect them from separating or being damaged.

Step 4: CNC Rings

Supplies:

• Polycarbonate Sheet

Tools:

• A USB
• OnShape CAD Website
• CNC Machine (or other cutting device)

Sub-Steps:

1. For this step the design of the rings was made in OnShape CAD prior to uploading it to a CNC Machine (however it is also able to made in the CNC program). The design our group used had a overall diameter of 22 in (including spacing in between the rings) with the outer ring being 4 in wide and having a 22 in diameter, the middle ring being 4.38 in wide and having a 13.75 in diameter, and the bullseye having a 4.75 in diameter.
2. However, prior to upload and cutting, a sheet of polycarbonate material that met the size preferences (diameter of 22 in) was acquired and screwed onto a thick piece of wood to cut on.
3. Afterwards an stl file of the design was uploaded onto a USB drive and onto the CNC Machine to adjust and prepare for cutting. There were several (3-4) tabs left around each ring to help the rings stay in place while cutting. The line paths and centering were adjusted for the polycarbonate and while the screws were not likely to interfere with the cutting (due to the size and placement of the rings on the polycarbonate) the screws were also drawn on the sheet of polycarbonate as areas to avoid.
4. Once the physical supplies and design were ready, we began using the CNC machine to cut the polycarbonate rings.
5. After the rings were cut, we used diagonal cutting pliers and sanding files to remove hard residue around the rings and smooth them.

Step 5: Hot Gluing

Supplies:

• Springs
• Peg Holders
• Balsa Wood Sticks
• Polycarbonate Rings
• Wooden Base (including Buttons and Wires)

Tools:

• Hot Glue Gun

Sub-Steps:

1. Determine your preferred placement of each button and spring, it may be helpful to mark the spots using a marker.
2. Then carefully lay the rings on the desired location and use a marker to mark the spots above the buttons where the peg holder center will go and above the springs where the springs can be glued.
3. Once the spots are marked, we recommend first gluing the springs into the location and then checking the rings fit after the springs are all glued.
4. Then one by one, glue the peg holders in the desired spots using a spot of hot glue then checking if the peg holder(s) lines up with the button(s). We glued these on with the help of the marker but also by holding the ring over the board and holding the peg in place after lining it up with the button and then flipping it over to slightly lift it up and glue it onto the board.

Step 6: Woodworking a Stand

Supplies:

• Large Screw
• Wooden Stand Piece

Tools:

• A Drill
• Sandpaper
• Miter Saw (or other cutting device)

Sub-Steps:

1. Begin by determining what angle you may want the stand sides (that will be connecting to the stand and laying on the ground) to be to meet the angle and position your target will be at. Our group used a flat end that would connect to the board and about a 45 degree angle side that would lay on the ground.
2. Use a miter saw (or other cutting device) to cut the sides of the stand to your preferred angle. Make sure to test the stand to ensure that it fits well and meets your ideal height.
3. Once the stand is cut, you can sand the sides that were cut to smooth the edges!
4. Find a screw that will be able to go through your stand and into your board, ideally not through the target board though.
5. Then determine an angle that you can drill in the screw and drill it in!

Step 7: Breadboarding

Supplies:

• Wires
• LEDs
• Resistors
• Medium Breadboard

Tools:

• Power Supply Box

Sub-Steps:

1. To begin, each of the buttons input wires (all red in digital image and all red and one yellow in power area in the physical image) can be connected to the power (red +) row at the top of the breadboard.
2. Then the output wiring can be set up by connecting all of the button output wires (black wires in both images) for each ring into their own column. Using the our design as an example, this would mean that one column would have 4 inputs that are the outputs of the 4 buttons of the outer ring, another column would have 3 inputs that are the outputs of the 3 buttons in the middle ring, and one more column that would have 1 input that is the output for the bullseye button.
3. In the same column, one side of a resistor would be used to channel the energy into another column that will have 1 wire to connect an LED. The resistors we used were 1kΩ resistors and 3 different color LEDs (White, Red, and Yellow).
4. The LEDs should have one input (red) wire going from the column with the other side of the resistor. The output (black) wire of the LED should go into the ground (black -) row at the bottom of the breadboard.
5. Add a wire connecting the ground (black -) rows at the top and bottom of the breadboard.
6. Afterwards, plug in the ___ with the power wire (red) going into the row with all of the buttons input (red) wires in the power (red +) row and the ground (black) wire going into the ground (black -) row at the top of the breadboard.
7. Now time for the final test! Try pressing each button in a ring, for each ring to see the corresponding LED light up for each ring! :D

Note: The box to the top left of the digital drawing is a power supply box.