Tuesday, March 11, 2008

PUT (IN AND OUT)



OUT.

so, we wanted some mirrors that could react to a moving flexinol wire. we liked the effect from last time, so tried to recreate a more refined prototype. two types, one with many pieces on a sheet of latex. we want this one to register movement from one area in other parts of the field. still need to figure out how we want to attach the flexinol...at one point? at many points? via some other material? the other type is a vertical stacked set of mirrors on latex, with the idea that the flexinol would be directly attached somehow, registering a 1 to 1 movement/bending of the strip.


here's a little video of it doing its thing, with the help of a finger. one thing we noticed was that there was more limited movement towards the outside when we continued the mirrors over the frame. guess that makes sense.









IN.



ok, we've been playing with the mirrors too long. on to the input/processing. went to the shack of radios and picked up a few essentials based on last class: main things were the power adapter, some 9-volt battery attachment heads, a couple of relays, a blank breadboard, and a tri-colored flashy led light. oh, and some other led light looking thing that turned out to be something else, so we blew it up. only half kidding. read on...



we wanted to see if we could set up the circuit board to move two pieces of wire at a time. since our flexinol set up was broke, we used our led as a test to see if the circuit worked. we copied the layout of a circuit diagram from last semester, and rewrote the basic stamp code. here are some pics:



so we have the circuit board set up to connect to two batteries and two sets of alligator clips for two pieces of flexinol. instead of the wire, we used the one led light on one, and just closed the other circuit by putting the alligator clips together. we get a very lovely glow from our light, as well as some smoke coming out. not good, but the led kept working, so we continued...tried the other circuit, worked too.

next, we used our 'led' light (it was actually some infrared output thing) to simulate the other flexinol wire. so led light on one side and 'led' thing on the other. hook it up. 'led' sparks and starts smoking. then turns black on the inside. the last picture is of the poor little guy in the aftermath. but, this means that it worked. right? we got something from both sides.

it's too bad we didn't get that on video, but here is the led light working:



so we know we can get two pieces working at the same time. next, how do we get that circuit on the new breadboard we bought? and, how do we control the juice and not blow anything else up? or, do we care? flexinol is supposed to be 'robust,' right? after that, we connect our disco strip and disco field to a piece of wire, connect it to our little circuit system, and watch it go. cake.


# posted by egbertchu : 10:17 AM
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