April 24, 2005
testing the motors
A group from class spent time on Thurs. April 21 testing our devices in Union Park, NYC. It was a fun time watching us move in different directions depending on how we felt vibrations. My reciever worked better than the transmitter. We kept to the oringinal plan of #1 forward, #2 backwards #3 right, #4 left. My belt tickled alot. #4 was the most difficult to remember which way to move. It is located on the front right, so moving left took thought.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the project is that the motoers and electronic circuitry is fragile. I have already replaced one motor and today 4/24 it seems as if the #1 motor is not vibrating. It too will need to be replaced. The belt is flexible and taking on and off, carrying it around and handling it makes the little motor connections vunerable to breakage.
The original building took me around 20 hours. Planning and re wiring the motor and then an antenna caused the long hours. I tried to create a mthod for opening up the plexi box so that I could work on it, the opening and closing of the top - made the antenna on the receiver fragile.
Today I attempted to change the antenna on the transmitter. Ending the day with needing to replace the temporary switches. The Original desing has not left rnough room in the box. Opening and closing the headed pins don't go back into the connectors well. I have bought new switches and have begun to build a new box. build and rebuild and fix and fix. I fear that in taking apart the receiver something went wrong with the motors, I think it is burnt out or the connection has broken, but not sure.
Posted by tina aufiero at April 24, 2005 04:36 PM