2/12 - 2/14

This week, I started a new project. Last week, I finished the lightbox for my sister and brought it home.

Last week, Kim and I finished getting all of the blocks onto the board. This week, Jaspreet got enough of the code done to the point that we could test it on the actual board. The LEDs work and light up well. Jaspreet just has to fix some of the code, then we will be able to move on to the circuit board and the base of the board.

On Monday, I spent my time looking for a new project to do. I had found three different ones and ended up picking a desk organizer. It functions the same way as a lazy susan and I'll use it to store desk supplies. I used this image as inspiration for the design of my project. The design requires a bearing to put between the divider part and the base of the lazy susan.

On Tuesday, I worked out the design in my notebook, and tried to figure out how I was going to make the design so it is able to rotate without having to buy a bearing. Originally, I found a video of someone who made a base that rotated how I wanted. They used wood and pony beads. They made two layers of wood on the bottom, with a third layer of wood that had a circular cut out creating a track. They used pony beads to run on the track and had another piece of wood that laid on top of the pony beads and was nailed into the base in the center. This allowed the layer of wood on top of the beads to rotate. I was originally going to use what this person did, but when I talked to Mr. L about it, he gave me an alternative where I wouldn't have to nail anything. The idea is to use the same base and track idea, but instead of using pony beads, I would use casters.

On Wednesday, I designed the base of my project following the ideas that the video and Mr. L gave me. I made the bottom two layers plain wood. The next two layers are a perimeter and a center circle that create a track that the casters will run on. I added one more layer to the perimeter so that I could hide the casters a little more. The casters are connected to the layer of wood above them, and the whole thing will just sit on the bottom layers, letting it spin. There is one more layer on top that has grooves in it that are the thickness of the wood I will be using. The idea is that I will create walls that have partial cutouts down the middle that are able to fit together and the will sit in the grooves in the base.