Laser-cut Wood & Leather Purse

I am in the process of learning how to finish laser-cut wood and leather.  I recently finished making a wooden purse for my mother, using an open source design by Scott Austin (CC BY SA).

If you are interested in open source designs, you may want to check out Obrary.com, a fantastic repository for Creative Commons licensed designs that may be produced with a laser cutter or CNC router.

The purse design calls for 1/4" hardwood; as a novice, I started with Baltic birch. While I was excited to get the pieces cut out (especially the living hinge) I learned that I should have modified the design to ensure that the size of the tabs matched up with the exact thickness of my wood.  I also discovered that it's important to pay attention to the direction of the wood grain when moving shapes around in Adobe Illustrator.  Since I didn't consider these things prior to cutting out the pieces, the wood grain lacks consistency and the tab connections look sloppier than I would have liked.

After gluing the purse together and sanding the wood, I used FW Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic Ink, in Birdwing Copper, to add color to the plywood.  Next time, I'll probably opt for a more traditional stain.

 

While the original purse design had holes for adding hardware and a handle, I had to come up with my own method for creating them.  Rather than ordering something online, I designed a closure and a handle in Inkscape and cut them out with a laser cutter.

After washing the char off of the leather with Murphy's oil soap, and allowing it dry overnight, I painted the leather pieces with Jacquard Neopaque Acrylic Paint in turquoise. After letting them dry, I attached them using double cap steel rivets.  I used E6000 to glue two leather disks to the purse, to serve as a raised button, which the ring slides over when the purse is closed.

By using turquoise and copper, I was trying to create a purse with a southwestern feel (that would match my mom's favorite pair of sandals).  Next time, I'll stick to a more subdued color pallet.

Update:

My next iteration (also Baltic Birch) turned out a little nicer.  The wood grain  is going in the correct direction and the tabs are a better fit.  I used a slightly larger version of the leather closure, which I prefer.  I applied a Minwax Gel Stain to the wood and black Jacquard Neopaque Acrylic paint to the leather.  Next time, I plan to use a higher quality wood.

A Working Prototype (#IoT)

Merging Different Functions

I've reached the point in my exploration where I've got several different functions merged into one program and a working prototype that uses alligator clips, a servo, a buzzer, NeoPixels, and surface mounted LEDs. The trick is going to be figuring out how to streamline the circuit so that it can fit neatly inside of a book (that will be built to accommodate it), with different functions playing on different pages to help tell a story of some sort.  

I just ordered some conductive fabric strips to test out for the hinges.  This tape is conductive on both sides, so I could conceivably use it on the hinges and adhere it to copper tape soldered to the Photon.

I have been unsuccessful getting a more compact servo to work with the code, so I may have to table the servo idea, unless I can come up with a way to conceal it.  The servo I'm currently using, the TowerPro SG90, is over an inch tall.  The one I want to use, the HK5320, is much smaller.  I can't figure out if the issue I'm having relates to voltage or something else.

SMD LED Function

Light Blue Bean and Neopixels

Adding more than three neopixels may require the addition of a voltage regulator, 
a transistor, and resistors.

Using the Blue Bean app, I can control LEDs from an iPad.

I've been experimenting with neopixels, using a Gemma, an ATtiny85, and most recently the Light Blue Bean.  While I am most excited about the potential of the ATtiny85, because of its smaller size and cost, I am also intrigued by the idea of controlling a gadget wirelessly.

Using the code from the Smartphone Controlled Mood Light project, modified to accommodate fewer LEDs, I'm able to control the color of three neopixels soldered to wire. So far, I'm only able to change the color of all the neopixels at the same time, rather than being able to customize each one individually.

If I changed the code to accommodate two LEDs, I could use this to control two glowing eyes, which would be a much easier way to do this than the Evil LED Goat project.  If I wanted to be able to remotely change the color of a hat or other wearable, this could also be useful, although doing so seems like a waste of a $30+ microcontroller.

My next step is to try to modify the code to make use of the accelerometer and or the buzzer. While I like the idea of being able to change the color of a project remotely, I'm interested in using the Bean for something a bit more useful.  I have a lot more to learn first.

Running Neopixels on an ATtiny85

ATtiny85 controlling sewable neopixels

Today, I am learning how to use an ATtiny85 to program sewable neopixels, with the goal of moving toward using surface-mounted RGB LEDs in paper circuitry.  The reason that this is so exciting is because the ATtiny85 is an inexpensive, low-profile chip, making it useful for notebook hacking and art projects!  If I can figure out how to make this entire process happen on a Chromebook, it would be a huge breakthrough for classroom instruction.


At the time I was working on this project, there was still one step that required the use of a PC: the process of burning a boot loader/ changing the fuse timing on the ATtiny85.  To use neopixels, the ATtiny85 needs to run on an 8 Mhz internal clock, rather than the default of 1 Mhz. As of 11 January 2016, this issue has been fixed, making it incredibly easy to do this type of thing with students using Chromebooks!

Once I converted the chip to 8 Mhz, I was able to use CodeBender and a Chromebook to program it with neopixel sample code (with only a couple of small tweaks).

My next step was to see if I could apply this new learning to building a paper circuit with copper tape and surface mounted RGB LEDs.  The photos demonstrate a prototype using the surface mounted RGB LEDs soldered to wire!

Since I was able to get the LEDs to do what I wanted with wire, I am 100% convinced that this can be replicated with copper tape!  Stay tuned!

ATtiny85 controlling SMD RGB LEDs

Updated 19 Dec 15:
I've created my first paper circuit with neopixels!  To learn more, visit BlingtheBook.blogspot.com.

FLOG: Light Blue Bean

FLOG (Failure Log) Alert:

In a previous post, I started exploring the Light Blue Bean, also referred to as the Arduino Bean.  I had little difficulty getting it set up on my PC, and I was excited to try to my first real project, but I made a serious miscalculation by jumping right into a project without prototyping first (something that would have been easier to do with more than one Bean).  As a result, I ended up making a soldering error that caused the Bean to stop connecting to the power pin.  After several hours of playing around, taking things apart, and re-soldering did not solve my problem, I suspected that I'd damaged the gadget beyond repair.

Another error that I made, when attempting to solder header pins to my Bean (an idea that I took from Lucie's post), was making an assumption that Beans work in the same way as a typical bread board.  I mistakenly thought that all of the pins in column 1, for example, could be programmed in the same way as the first pin in that column. Since all of the holes in the first row of my Bean already had solder in them from my first project, I figured I'd just move down a row and start over. This did not work!  Only the first pins in each column are directly programmable via Arduino or an iOS device via the Bean Loader or the Tickle app.

Success at Last:

To make a long story short, +Craig Lyndes identified and repaired my power issue and encouraged me to try prototyping again, this time moving my header pins from the second to the top row!  I am happy to report that I've got my Bean working again!

Now, I am able to make LEDs blink on demand from a PC, iPad, or iPhone, and I have a working Bean to use exclusively for prototyping.  Although I will need to buy an additional one for a future project, I have learned a lot from this process!  Thanks +Lucie deLaBruere and Craig.

123D Circuits For Cloud-Based Arduino Prototyping

Last week, while attending the Create Make Learn Summer Institute, I noticed that a lot of people were using AutoDesk to access Tinkercad and other free online design tools.  As a result, I checked it out and discovered 123D Circuits and the Electronics Lab, which allows users to simulate working on a breadboard, write and compile the code, and then test it out digitally.

This might not seem like a revolutionary thing, but here's why I'm hooked:  I've found this tool to be an efficient way to code and prototype ATtiny85 microprocessors.

My digital breadboard, testing out code that I wrote for an ATtiny85

Small microprocessors such as the ATtiny85 can be incredibly tedious to prototype, often requiring multiple boards and lots of wires.  If you've ever tried connecting alligator clips to one, then you know that it's super tricky to keep the clips from touching one another while you're testing out your code.

That's where 123D Circuits can come in handy!  Rather than having to set up a breadboard (or get out the alligator clips) every time you want to test your code, you could use a digital breadboard to do it instead. Then, once you've verified that your code is doing what it's supposed to do, you can save it (along with your breadboard), making it easy to access and build upon later.

Paired with CodeBender and a Chromebook, I've found that not only can I test my code and wiring virtually, but I can also upload it right to my ATtiny85, using Arduino as an ISP.

Potential Pitfalls:
Although 123D Circuits has a lot of useful digital components, such as LEDs, resistors, and switches, I have not been able to figure out how to digitally test out a light sensor on an ATtiny85.  Also, there doesn't appear to be a sound sensor.