Well, after a number of false starts, I talked to
Daniel Liss, got his AT settings for an autonomous xbee broadcasting garbage data, and can use the Processing program Tom Igoe wrote here to monitor the strength of the signal. What’s left to do today is to modify Daniel’s arduino code to PWM the LEDs in the boxes I’ve been working on.
I needed a good way to route the power into the boxes that would be clean and work well. I driled holes into the side of the three boxes that I’m going to have in the end and routed out space for a DC power jack. Now they can get power and look kind of like something you might buy at Ikea.
Now, All I need to do with these guys is make the xbee range detection work, and get some silicone to make tops for them, maybe two days’ work. Excellent!
Also, some pictures of the newly-reassembled casting:
I went to blick art after thesis class today and got some sculpting mesh and some plaster bandages. The plaster is for reattaching the shoulder pieces to the back cast. With the mesh, I sketched out a general shape for the insecurity prosthesis. I wrapped it in some fabric that I saw Rory leave on the junk shelf yesterday. After pinning the fabric around the mesh armature, I pinned the heating pad to the underside.
It goes around the neck and shoulders and hangs down onto the chest. It works pretty well, gets nicely warm (even if not very heavy) and hasn’t caught on fire yet, which is a kind of success. Drew Burrows, Kyveli Vezani, Robert Moon, and Rory Nugent were kind enough to model it for me.
I think that what I’m going to have to do is to make a pattern from this shape, and then cast and cut the pattern out of silicone, eventually sewing it together with the ubiquitous red thread. I need to think of something that could fill it that wouldn’t cause a fire or electrocution hazard. Aesthetically, I’d love for it to be really well sealed and to be filled with water, but that would be pretty dangerous with an AC heater involved. Maybe rice or lentils, but that seems to subvert the medical angle. small glass or plastic beads? that seems like it’s getting expensive. Stuff to think about, I guess.
I figured I’d put up some shots I took of the cast that I’m working with.
Okay, today I came in early and made some boxes. the color in poplar’s heartwood came out pretty nicely, but I’m still not sure if it’s what I’m after. The plain white poplar tends to look more anti-septic and more like something that could be bone-like or medical to me. We’ll see. What I’ll do at least is go through all the steps to get these ready to be final objects and then if I need to and if time permits I can get just a little more wood and make one more box.
On the plus side, I have a lot of dark poplar scrap that I can use for random things now. In any case, I think that it’s high time I finish the mold for the silicone casting that will be the anxiety prosthesis. Tonight I’ll think about what it will take to get that done and hopefully come up with some sketches and plans.
Here’s the box that I threw together. I took the older box that I made and rounded the edges. It looks pretty great, I think. My plan is to drill consistent holes maybe every half inch around the edge and lace the silicone to the box, vaguely like a drum. I’ll use red thread to emphasize the connection with the anxiety prosthesis.
The next box I make, I’ll play with some of the colors of the wood.
I finished making one of the boards for the alienation prosthesis, and, while the other one has some problems that I still need to diagnose, it’s nice to get one of them solid. the boards seem to distribute the light pretty nicely inside of the boxes too.
Also, I grabbed a beautiful piece of wood this morning. I intend to do some cutting and boxmaking this afternoon. It’s poplar, the same kind of wood I used in the anxiety prototype sketch and in the other alienation boxes, but it comes from close to the center of the tree, where the heartwood gives it a purplish hue surrounded by green. I hadn’t thought of color being a part of the boxes, but “heartwood” is too appropriate not to use.
After yesterday’s kind of ridiculous etching failure, I’ve moved into building out the circuits for the final revision of the alienation prosthesis. Two arduino/xbee circuit boards are built into a single perfboard. Eventually I’ll split them on the bandsaw. Below are some shots of them in progress (and untested).
Later tonight, I’m going to sit down and try to get down an early draft of my introduction and prior art to contextualize my work. I think it’ll be pretty fun.
Today I gave etching my board a shot. I figured that it wouldn’t be easy, as the board is really tight, and in order to have all of the traces on a single side, Eagle, the PCB schematic and layout software, required the traces to be very thin. It was tough, but at least I wouldn’t have to try to match up both sides of the copper clad with designs to be etched.
Even after tinning the board and jumping across etching mistakes, the board is almost unusable. I’ll probably go to a perfboard solution tomorrow.
I tried to use a new etchant, cupric chloride, that allegedly would get stronger as copper would dissolve into it. It didn’t seem to etch all that well, until I made a new batch (one part hydrochloric acid to two parts hydrogen peroxide). That really ate away at the copper, but seemed to wear out as it turned green from copper in solution. It’s really photogenic though (and does weird stuff to color levels).
Today I was gratified to find that removing the plaster cast from the mannequin was easier than I had anticipated. Well, not exactly easy, but after a particularly tough time in the lower stomach area it got better. I recommend a dremel, an exacto knife, and patience. The pieces were a little fragile, and I made some more plaster to reinforce them with. When the plaster dries completely, I’ll sand the insides smooth and make it into a mold.
