082_on site_night

081_on site_day

080_the final analogue

071_analogue testing_kinetic object + proximity sensor

Testing the final analogue device with the proximity sensor above. Initially the movement in the flexinol was extremely small and not enough to move the "wing" (about 2mm of movement). 

This was solved by "programming" the flexinol into a coil shape, by winding the flexinol around a metal rod using clamps, and applying a high heat with the butane torch for 2 seconds to set it. It was important not to apply too much heat for too long as you risk damaging the wire. 

The wire was then stretched out and secured in place, so that when a current was applied to the wire, it contracted back into a coil shape which pulled the wing up higher. 

070_analogue testing_kinetic object

Testing the movement of the nearly completed analogue above.

063_construction_wiring

 Wiring for the analogue involved a 12v battery pack, ultrasonic proximity sensor, relay, 5v battery pack and flexinol wire. See previous posts for the testing of the sensor and relay.  

Ultrasonic sensor with 0.0012 flexinol test

Circuit

Layout on the neck piece

062_construction_neck piece

The purpose of the neck piece is to provide a meaningful way to conceal the sensor and electronics required to produce the output.

The location of the sensor on the neck was chosen as it is generally sensitive location on a persons body with regards to touch. A tube style neck piece was selected as it restricts movement- potentially something that occurs to farmed.domesticated animals. Having this lessened ability to move reflects the vulnerability a person may feel with regards to proximity/distance away from an object or another person. 

Inspiration of form

Isabelle McGuire and Mady Berry

Michael Cepress

Michael Cepress

 Construction

The construction of the neck piece involved sewing velcro to create a pocket to contain the electonics. Two holes were cut in the fabric to locate the sensors through. Various methods of fastening were tested using brass/elastic, however velcro was selected as the most robust and is hidden when the tube is placed on the person. 

061_construction_brass structure

Instruments required

Butane torch + butane

Silver paste solder (hard)

Silver wire solder

Flux

Soldering brick

Tweezers/pliers

Jewellers mitre box and saw

Butane torch

soldering brick and silver paste solder

first attempt at soldering the box for the finger= fail

Above is my attempt to solder the box to go around the finger. The issue with cutting separate pieces for each plane is that it is difficult to solder each one without melting the previous solder applied. Advice from a friend suggested that bending the outer box and soldering only the inner pieces would solve this problem. 

soldering the wing piece

Above is an photo from the soldering process for the wing piece. The difficulty with this pieces was the same as the above - parts kept on falling off whenever a new solder was applied due to the heat. I also realised that soldering rods together using the paste solder was neat and effective- however soldering a brass plane to a rod/another plane was difficult as an even distribution of heat was required and the paste solder was not melting easily. The method was then altered such that small pieces were soldered together using the paste solder - but larger pieces where less heat was required were soldered using the silver wire solder. 

Structural components

The wing

Ring

Runners and structure

Soldering components together

Nearly finished structure

Polishing

Due to some of the difficulties soldering the pieces, much of the brass was marked by fire scale/oxidisation. I attempted to use pickle (below) to remove the fire scale after sanding with a fine emery paper. The pickle was moderately successful. I also tried Brasso to further polish the metal, however I found it also had little effect.