{"id":6281,"date":"2016-01-08T10:58:47","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T16:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sector67.org\/blog\/?p=6281"},"modified":"2016-02-25T11:43:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T17:43:11","slug":"december-monthly-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sector67.org\/blog\/2016\/december-monthly-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"December Monthly Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>

Build Madison – Project Follow Up<\/h2>\n

Brian presented a project that he built\u00a0during the 24-hour Build Madison event hosted by Sector67 in November. Brian’s self-homing telescope stand was almost completely built during the 24-hour event. \u00a0Brian used several of the tools housed at Sector67 to build his project: \u00a0the panel router for cutting the base, laser cutter for a very large belt driven gear and the machine frame. \u00a0OpenSCAD was used for the design and digital prototyping. \u00a0As he already had belts to use for the project, Brian cut\u00a0corresponding teeth out of\u00a0acrylic rather than wood.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9036\" \"IMG_9035\"<\/p>\n

Components\/features of the project include a magnetometer, gyroscope, accelerometer, Arduino Mega board, and 9 Degrees of Freedom chip. \u00a0Brian hasn’t connected a telescope to his new creation yet so hopefully we’ll hear more at a future meeting.<\/p>\n<\/a>

Pens for Parkinson’s Patients<\/h2>\n

Parkinson’s disease is debilitating. \u00a0The stiffness\u00a0caused in a victim’s muscles can\u00a0keep them from doing everyday things like writing. \u00a0Eric has been working on putting pens back into the hands of Parkinson’s patients with his new project. \u00a0The pen prototypes he shared use vibration to essentially massage the stiffened hand\u00a0muscles to allow the user’s hand the freedom and flexibility to regain small motor movements like gripping a writing utensil. A small videogame controller\u00a0motor (think Wii or Xbox handheld device) attached to the pen barrel, vibrates the pen enough to massage the hand but not enough to affect the patient’s penmanship. A\u00a0potentiometer is used to control the frequency\/vibration of the motor, based on the needs of the user.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9041\"<\/p>\n

Eric feels the pens can the cost of the final pen could be reasonably affordable. \u00a0The motors are the most expensive component and run $5 – $15 based on size and quality.<\/p>\n<\/a>

Creating a simple AOI (Automated Optical Inspector)<\/h2>\n

The company Bob\u00a0works for, Quietyme, is ramping up in-house production of their\u00a0circuit boards. Every board is checked by a person, which is time\u00a0consuming and an eye strain. Bob wanted an AOI (automated optical\u00a0inspector), but they are typically in the tens of thousands of dollars. \u00a0Bob decided to try building a miniature version using a webcam and some\u00a0computer vision software. The hardware is a laser cut enclosure with the\u00a0base of Quietyme’s\u00a0product enclosure glued to the bottom. 12V white LED\u00a0strips covered with a diffuser to reduce bright spots make the PCB\u00a0evenly lit. A camera is positioned so that the PCB occupies the entire\u00a0frame. The webcam video is fed into a custom python application which\u00a0uses the OpenCV library to match patterns of known good soldered\u00a0components against the video stream. When it finds a match it blacks out (masks) the component on the display. Any unmatched components are shown (as potential errors) and\u00a0must be inspected by the person. This masking means the technician must\u00a0look at only a few components instead of the entire circuit board.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9048\"\"IMG_9051\" \"IMG_9047\"<\/p>\n<\/a>

This Family Bakes Together and Makes Together<\/h2>\n

Scott & Laura, along with their sons Luke and Levi (and Scott’s Mom, Cindy) t<\/span>ackled a big family project for the holiday season. \u00a0Rather than creating a traditional gingerbread house, the family aspired to bake and build a gingerbread version of the Notre Dame Cathedral. \u00a0Scott\u00a0was inspired by a papercraft version of the Cathedral<\/a> he found on Canon Papercraft.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9028\" \"IMG_9062\"\u00a0\"IMG_9029\"\u00a0\"rosewindow\"<\/p>\n

Scott wrote a great article<\/a> about the design, testing, baking, and building of this project. \u00a0He also shares information about the challenges faced along the way! \u00a0Scott posted\u00a0directions on Thingiverse<\/a> for making one yourself next holiday season.<\/p>\n

A timelapse video of the process process can be found here:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/vcZdZHOcefo<\/a>. \u00a0Check it out!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/a>

Personal CNC Machine – Build or Import?<\/a><\/h2>\n

After doing a good amount of research and pricing, David decided that the best decision for him was to\u00a0import the CNC machine of his dreams (via Alibaba) from a manufacturer in China. \u00a0Based on his experience, David shared some tips with the group.\"IMG_9063\"<\/p>\n