week 8 term 2

i have pretty much finished my prototype light. i have to seal up the solar panel and then wait a day for the silicon sealant to dry. it also gives the light a nice finish and i am happy with the way it has turned out

term 2 week 8

this term i have finished making and modifying my prototype, my final design and using some solid works. my next thing that i want to complete is the solidworks version of my freehand final design. next term, i want to get my big solar garden light underway

final design v4

this is my last final design that i am going to make on freehand. this design is the design that i am going to make. soon, i will start making it in solidworks and then i will be able to have a look at a computer generated version of the light in 3D. i can flip the light around. i will also be able to view the light in different materials and on different surfaces.

week 7 term 2

this week, i have modified my circuit for the prototype and im helpimg some other people do the same. i have also had another attempt at using a program called solidworks and i dont like it that much

my final design v3

this is my third final design. i have used a circular shape this time . it is alot different from my second final design that i had made. this design uses 4 leds and is alot taller then my second design. it looks more like a lantern lind of thing, but more modifications could still come

prototype evaluation

I have completed making a small self powered light. It is made of aluminum and it has got a small solar panel and 2 white led’s. The light is a box shape and it was cut out inside the cam machine. The cam machine is a computer aided machine that cuts out most material in the form of a sheet. The cam machine cut out 2 parts to the box. One part of in the shape of a plus and the other part was the bottom of the box. With the first part that’s shaped like a plus, I had to drill 4 holes in the top using a drill press. Two holes are placed on the outside for the 2 white led’s to come through, and two holes are placed in the center of the top panel for the solar panels wires. Once I have drilled the holes out, I had to bend the sides of the box up. The box was bent on a metal bender. A metal bender can bend sheet metal. I folded up 2 sides to 90°. One problem that I encountered was folding the other 2 sides upwards. I could only bend them up to about 45°. To resolve this problem, I had to bend the metal by hand. Once the box was bent, I then needed to make up 4 brackets to hold the sides of the box a lot stronger. I got some scrap aluminum and scribed out my brackets. I cut them out in the metal guilitine and marked where I need to drill the holes for the rivets to go through. Once I marked where the holes were going to go, I drilled the holes out. Another problem I came across was that I had to drill the holes in another place of the bracket on the other side to make sure that when the brackets are riveted in, they won’t clash with each other. Once I had drilled the holes in the bracket, I then had to bend them 90°. After I had bended my 4 brackets, they were finished. So the next step was to drill holes in the box using the bracket itself as a template. 16 holes were drilled in total using a cordless drill. Then I riveted the brackets to the box using 3.2milimeter rivets. The top and sides of the box were complete. I was now up to the stage where I have to bend and drill the bottom plate for the box. The bottom plate was in the shape of a square with 4 small tabs coming out from each side. The first job was to scribe on the four tabs where the drill holes are going to be. Once this was complete, I then had to drill out the holes and bend the four tabs upwards. The tabs fitted around the side of the box. Another problem was that the tabs were not long enough to fit on the outside of the box, so it had to be forced to fit using a wooden hammer. After this was complete, the back plate fitted tightly. After that, I had to use the back plate as a template to drill holes into the box where the holes in the tabs were. The next step was to put screws through the holes that I had just drilled out. I had finished making the box, so the next thing to do was to modify the circuit. I had to desolder a warehouse circuit out of another solar garden lamp I had pulled apart previously. I removed the battery snap, the solar panel and the white led. I soldered on 2 new white led’s in parallel and then heat shrinked the terminals and soldered a new battery snap and new wires for the solar panel. Once I had done this, I then glued the circuit to the aluminum box along with the battery snap. Then, I pushed the led’s through the 2 holes in the box and glued them in place. Then I screwed the back plate on to the box. I also pushed the 2 wires for the solar panel up through the 2 holes in the centre of the box. Once this was complete, I soldered the solar panel. Then I glued the solar panel to the box leaving about 2 millimeters between the solar panel and the box to prevent a short circuit. The final step was to get some silicon sealant and put it around the solar panel to seal it up. My prototype was complete. I really like the size of the lamp and I like the industrial look about it. And I like the material chosen and also I am very happy because the light works. The one thing that I could do better next time is have the back plate cut bigger by 1 millimeter so that it can fit onto the box a lot more smoothly. Also I would like to have a three volt solar panel and 2 batteries in series so I can get the voltage of the circuit up to 3 volts for a brighter light output.

my first prototype

so far, i have completed my first prototype and it goes. i have tested the ciecuit and glued the circuit in place. once i had done that, i soldered on the solar panel through the box and then used a silicon sealant to glue it in place.

week 6 term 2

this week, we have done more pratical on our prototype lights. friday will be good as we will be able to do practical work for 2 hours. i will get alot done. 6/10/2008

my first prototype

i have nearly finished my first prototype. so far i have completely finished the box and nearly finished modifying the circuit. i need to glue the circuit, battery snap, led's and the solar panel to my aluminum box. also the solar panel needs to be soldered to the circuit. the red hose around the led is a piece of rubber tube that has been melted over the wire to prevent any shorting of the circuit. the circuit has got the two led's in parallel. i want to have completed my light by Friday when i have the next double period. i have encountered the problem when i had a aaa battery holder instead of an aa battery older. i have resolved this problem by going down to the electronics store and replacing them.

week 5 term 2

this week we are doing our prototype lights. i am posting up photos of mine at its currant stage