Criterion C: Amplify My Life

By: Risa KUNII

This Instructable will outline the manufacturing process for my product.

Before manufacturing, I addressed an issue that would be possibly solved or improved through the production of my speaker. Initially, the problem that I had addressed was the amount of electricity used globally and the lack of stable electricity in some areas of the world. Therefore, to tackle this issue, I aimed to manufacture an electricity-free speaker.

However, after creating my first prototype and identifying its errors and areas of improvement, I realised that it would not be possible to change the model on Fusion 360 within the short amount of time we have in class. Thus, I addressed a new problem regarding physical pain in wrists, fingers, and arms occurring in individuals that hold their phones for a prolonged period of time and inconvenience experienced by individuals who have to take notes from their phone onto paper whilst studying. To solve this issue, I changed the product's function from being an electricity-free speaker to a speaker that uses power supply.

To give rise to some ideas on aesthetics, functions, colours, shapes, etc. that the speaker could hold, I analysed five different products that exist in the market today. I analysed the limitations, feasibility, materials, and functions of the speakers so that I could apply it to my product by avoiding the limitations, getting ideas of how to use different materials, and how different aesthetics can attract the customers.

To collect data addressing aesthetic requirements, cost constraints, customer requirements, environmental requirements, size constraints, safety considerations, performance requirements & constraints, material requirements, as well as manufacturing requirements, I planned research questions to help in the developing process. I created a survey on Google Form to understand the opinions and colour preferences of my target audience.

After planning the research and collecting data after conducting the research, I made sure to sketch down the dimensions of the device that I would be using with the product as well as where the sound comes out from. By doing so, I allowed me to be able to get a general idea of how the speaker could be designed.

In the design brief, I made sure to think about and understand how the problem addressed could be solved through my product, the target audience, as well as the feasibility of my design ideas.

Initially, I discussed how the target audience were individuals who had a lack of stable electricity as well as individuals who were a fan of the Jaws' films. However, after changing the problem that was addressed, the design brief was modified. It discussed the target audience which were individuals who desired a convenient and painless experience with their phones while studying, watching videos, or reading ebooks.

The design specification was created to organise the ideas for the design, function, and manufacturing of the final product. It discussed the aesthetics based on the data collected from a survey, target audience/customer, environmental considerations, function, manufacturing, materials, safety, and size/dimension (of the device).

Because the initial ideas changed after the creation of the first prototype, I made two design specifications for each final product idea.

To be able to put my ideas for the aesthetics and function on paper, I first sketched out how I desired the product to look like. The images above show my sketches for my initial product idea for an electricity-free speaker. For my final product, however, I did not use this idea.

From the research conducted, I was able to find an stl. file of a shark head that was a perfect fit for what I imagined my product could look like. Once downloaded, I went to Fusion 360 and tried to edit the model so that the backboard would separate and delete from the shark head, there could be a slot for my phone to enter, and so that there could be a hole which leads to a larger gramophone-like system that would amplify the sound coming out of the phone. Mr. Shaw helped me with all of these aspects so that the model would be able to print exactly like how we designed on the software. Once the model was 3D printed, I we realised that the hole was not at the exact location of where the speaker on the phone was. In addition, the slot was slightly small therefore I had to take of my phone case for the phone to fit inside. Looking at these issues, Mr. Shaw decided that it would be best to model a different speaker system instead of trying to improve the prototype because it would be extremely difficult.

To manufacture the final chosen design, I needed to fix the issue with my Fusion 360 of not having the timeline. By the timeline not appearing on the Fusion 360, it raised problems for me to fix big changes I made to the model that I wanted to reverse/undo. In addition, I would not be able to check where the errors began while modelling the product if there is no timeline. As shown in the image above, by right clicking on the model title, and clicking the very last option, I was able to fix the issue by making the timeline appear.

Source used to help me with fix the issue:

Forums.autodesk.com. (2017). history timeline not showing. [online] Available at: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-design-... [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017].

For the chosen design, I planned to use the same model that I downloaded from Yeggi (which I used for my first prototype). I could not edit the model because it was an STL file. The picture above demonstrates how I was able to relieve the issue of having the STL file not being a body. By clicking on the options shown, I was able to convert the mesh to a body which I could further model and design.

Source used:

Forums.autodesk.com. (2017). Convert STL mesh to solid model. [online] Available at: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-design-... [Accessed 16 Nov. 2017].

So that I could hollow the insides of the shark head model, I needed to merge any unnecessary triangles from the model. Or else, the function would not work due to the great amount of polygons on the face. The first image shows which options I clicked to merge the polygons. By doing so, Fusion 360 allowed me to shell the back of the model. The merged back can be demonstrated in the second image.

With the aid of a website on the internet, I hollowed out the shark head. By doing so, it would allow me to be able to add the speaker system inside.

In addition to the shell, I attempted to create the mesh screen on the front of the shark head, however, Fusion 360 did not allow this function due to the large amount of polygons on the face of the head despite the merged areas.

Source used:

Mazandattero.xyz. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: http://www.mazandattero.xyz/lessons/160214_Custom... [Accessed 16 Nov. 2017].

When the model finished printing, it was not shelled despite being modelled as so in Fusion 360. Thus, I manually shelled out the insides of the shark head with a scraper tool and gloves.

Image sources: https://blog.hartleybrody.com/web-scraping/

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Firm-Grip-Latex-Coated...

Before working on the circuit board, I drilled a couple of holes onto the front and sides of the shark head to act as the mesh screen for the speaker system inside. After I had done so, I filed the holes to make sure that they passed through the thick plastic into the head as well as around the holes so that they do not look messy.

After doing so, I painted the model with white and blue acrylic paint so that it would follow the target audience's preferences (previously indicated through survey). I planned that the paint could dry while I work on soldering parts and wires onto the circuit board.

Image source: https://www.aliexpress.com/6pcs-needle-file_review...

While waiting for the paint to dry on the shark head, I started soldering the speakers and other parts to the circuit board. I eventually realised that the soldering of the positive and negative wires were on the opposite side therefore I had to switch them by melting the metal again and try to pull the wire out.

(Image on right) Testing out how the speaker and circuit will fit inside the model.

Some of the materials used:

- Cutting pliers

- Speaker

- Wires

- Soldering iron

- Soldering sponge

- Soldering wire

- Soldering smoke absorber

- Circuit board

- Wire stripper

My product would be running on a power brick. Therefore, I had to connect the wires to the circuit to supply power to the speaker. I first separated the two wires, stripped them, twisted the wires inside, bent it into a hook, bent the wires connected to the circuit into a hook, measured which side was positive and negative with the multimeter, and then soldered the positive wire to the other positive wire and negative to negative. Once I did so, I took insulation tape to strengthen and give support to the fragile connection.

This worked until the last moment when one broke off. I needed to re-solder after.

Image source: https://www.imore.com/how-fast-charging-works-ipho...

Once changing the wires to the correct sides, the wire connected to the speaker snapped off, therefore, I had to re-strip the wire and re-solder it. In addition, an area of the circuitboard overheated when I was re-soldering a different part. As a result, I soldered a small piece of wire solely to connect those two paddings. (Eventually, the wire broke off and I had to re-solder this as well).

After soldering, I added the switch for turning the speaker on/off by taking two wires and attaching it to both the switch and the circuit board. When this was done, I drilled a hole on the side of the shark's head so that the switch could be accessed.

Once Mr. Shaw tested that my speaker worked with his phone, I used a glue gun to put the whole speaker together.

Once the speaker system was glued inside the shark head, I used a coping/hand saw to cut out small pieces of the model to allow the wires from the power brick and the phone connector to exit without causing a bump so that the product would elevate.

Image source: http://www.design-technology.org/sawscomparison.ht...