The task was to design and make a speaker for the given amplifier kit based on a chosen theme, using CAD/CAM. During my initial research and early ideas I decided that I was going to develop a promotional amplifier for the film Tron.
First I started my design development using various sources of inspiration from the film Tron. I looked at different characters and aspects of the film that could be designed and evolved into an amplifier unit. Quite early on I decided that the light cycle would be my main focus of inspiration as I found this to stand out most against other 'typical' ideas already used to create Tron inspired merchandise.
The design process was quite simple and consisted mainly of sketching generally due to the 3D complexity of the design. My idea for this particular speaker was hard to model using traditional modeling techniques and therefore the use of pro/ENGINEER helped to create a 3D perspective to test to see if the model would work in real life.
I set out to create a design that was a little bit different, that looked quite simple but inside is hidden a mist of complexities dependent on the accuracy of CAD/CAM and my own design sketches. It began as a series of sketches each part being built from the previous. The most important part of the speaker design was getting the speaker cone right in order to amplify good sound quality from an mp3 device.
It was a key part of the design because it would hold the speaker face and contain a hollow area within the speaker cone to capture and project sound. Within the design of the speaker cone I wanted to hide any cabling that attached the speaker to the circuit. Initially I started off with the typical shape that I wanted, however when looking at how much material was surrounding the speaker cone there was a lot of waste, so I reduced the thickness of the walls to ensure maximum quality with minimum material usage. When designing the cable unit this was quite tricky due to the thickness of the walls however I managed to create a small housing unit where the cable could slot through. It wasn't until manufacture where the size of the cable trail was revealed and could be tested properly against the manufactured circuit, it was here where I had not take into consideration that there were 2 wires joined together not just one. This problem was easily solved as the existing hole at the back was just made bigger to accommodate both wires going through the speaker cone instead of being hidden. If i was to start the design process again I would take into consideration the width of the wires and design the speaker cone to accommodate this. The speaker cone is still how ever successful and projects a loud clear sound, so this would be an aesthetic adjustment.
By creating a hidden trail for the cable from the speaker to the circuit I decided to separate the speaker cone into two separate halves. This would make it easier to lay the wire through the small gap. This meant I had to create another part that would hold the two halves together. This was very accurate during manufacture and worked very well. Each of the two halves fitted together very accurately and were quite simple to model and manufacture. Where the strength of the speaker cone was tested was during the finishing stages when the exterior of the cone needed sanding down, filling and sanding down again. This process was quite difficult as the two pieces were always trying to separate putting quite a lot of stress on the supporting ring. Even though this wasn't too much of a problem and it didn't break any of the parts, the finished quality of this part of the speaker was not it's best due to the shape. This part would have been best manufactured as a whole, with a small hole at the back where the speaker wire could pass through. The finished manufactured part using the fused deposition modeler was of high quality and very accurate fitting into all parts securely including creating a perfect housing for the speaker unit itself.
On the whole the first 6 parts that formed the internal architecture of the speaker housing were very accurate and fitted together perfectly as a series of interlocking parts. This is what I was aiming to achieve within the design based on the front wheel of the light cycle.
When the parts had been manufactured using CAM equipment I was very impressed with the accuracy of how well the internal architecture housed each of the different parts of the circuit. The design of each piece worked well together including cable tidy areas. The design worked very well in that each part acted as a means of support for the circuit as well as taking into consideration the aesthetic function of the design and the minimisation of material usage and being more cost effective. The accuracy of these pieces did depend highly on accuracy of drawing using CAD as well as using the fused deposition modeler to create an accurate finished product. All of the parts excluding the speaker cone could have been manufactured using the laser cutter as a more cost effective way in both time and material.
The next three parts were designed to hold all of the parts in place as well as providing an aesthetic finish to the design. As the parts inside were designed with symmetry in mind this helped to create an external shell that matched well to the existing style of the light cycle. By careful design consideration the location of the joints were also designed to take into account the colour changes between each part. This meant that each part could be easily sprayed.
Even though each of these three parts were very accurate and fitted together perfectly the inside parts were designed a little too close to the perimeters of the internal wall. These parts required some sanding to ensure they could be easily removed from the external shell in case the battery or any part of the circuit needed changing or looking at. However after all parts were sanded the speaker unit was working successfully.
The final part of the puzzle was the external shell. This part was the main source of protection for the whole speaker. This is evident from the thickness of the walls of this part. These final parts were also designed with the form of the light cycle in mind, creating a fully functioning speaker housing unit that reflected the Tron theme strongly.
Some similar problems occurred with this part of the speaker as well in that it fitted together with its other parts perfectly but was a little bit of a tight fitting. After some sanding this was a problem easily solved that created the fully functioning mp3 amplifier shown below.
As you can see from the design it looks quite simple reflecting the Tron theme strongly. Each part acting not only as an aesthetic function but a structural one as well. Overall I would say the design and function was successful as the design meets all the main points that were to be addressed in the specification.
Each item under the main specification are discussed further below:
The design of the amplifier unit is quite compact and can be easily carried, stacked and distributed as required. How ever it was costly to manufacture as a one off product so the design would have to be developed using different technologies to bring the cost of the process down so it could be distributed as a promotional item.
The design of the product has a strong relationship to the theme Tron with the shape, form and function relating to the features of the light cycle. The design did provide challenge to thought provoking design development as each piece was designed carefully and in sequence to ensure high accuracy and quality finish.
The final product is a working prototype and provides a high quality sound. Before being sprayed each of the parts were easy to access and the battery was easy to change, however after being sprayed the parts became tightly compacted again, so if I was to manufacture a new version of the prototype model I would take this into consideration as well. I have left the back panel off my final piece so that at a later date I can revisit this area and perhaps re sand and spray for a better finish.
The finished prototype did house all parts of the amplifier circuit successfully and you can see from the image above the accuracy part of this model was quite successful as an unfinished product.
The colours of this finished product strongly reflected the theme of Tron using blue and white, but this could be easily adapted to be blue and black or black and orange.
Overall I am quite happy with the design I feel like I learnt a lot from using pro/ENGINEER as a design tool. It is quite a complicated programme at times but once you understand how the programme works it is much easier to manipulate and design accurately. I was very pleased with the accuracy of my models when they came out of the 3D printer. This may probably seem like an easy method to create finished parts but it is quite a hard material to work with to get a refined finish. Wood and acylic is a much easier material to sand and shape. I am pleased with the final outcome, i think if I had the choice of spraying the final product again I probably wouldn't because I liked the unfinished surface that the 3D printer leaves. I would also look to designing a more promotional based product like the speaker design below, mainly due to cost implications and also the impact of the products life cycle on the environment.
I have learnt a great deal through this project as I have never used pro/ENGINEER before or a 3D printer and I have managed to produce a quite accurate complex model. I have learnt that I need to practice my spraying technique and also check my design against finishes possibly by doing a small sample quality check first. But for a first attempt including machine breakdowns and limitations of being out on school placement I think I have done well, but there's always room for improvement. I could have also thought about how I could have manufactured this product more using the three different processes of CAM equipment rather than just one.
As for creating my own blog i think it is a very useful tool and will definitely use one again for future projects.
