Instructable Post

http://www.instructables.com/id/Mechanical-Winged-Top-Hat/

What I did 12/1 - 12/4

Since we're coming down to the last few days of the assignment I'll do a few updates:

Thomas gave me a link that provided me with a layout for my arduino circuit and the code to program the arduino:

• http://tinkr.de/blog/hack-a-canon-camera-and-controll-it-with-an-arduino/
• Instead of the camera the top two wires (green and blue) are going to the switch wires. Use a low value resistor like 100Ω.
• Then you need to figure out how to program the photocell to turn the trigger  pin to high.

So I laid that out using a bread board. My plan was to add attach the circuit via the override button but that didn't respond. Instead, I found if I hooked the arduino circuit to the photocell wires, then the arduino could control the rotation. 

What I did 11/28 - 11/30

After thanksgiving I was able to show Thomas how much progress I had made on the wing motor.

Basically, there is one on/off switch (that's the big red button). So you can push that once to turn it on and the gear shaft goes through a single rotation (making the wings go up and down). To stop it from goes on forever, there is a switch near the propeller which switchs the motor off once it goes around once. This does not actually switch it off (everything is still powered) so the red button needs to be pushed once again to turn it all the way off.

To override this switch is a button which will override the single rotation (though you have to push it each time it goes around in order to make it continuous otherwise the switch continues to turn off the motor).

Other than turning the device on and off again, there is another way for the motor to be activated. This is the photocell, which, as previously mentioned, only works via a strobe light. 

11/28 - 11/30

The major issue which I had to deal with was the lack of an arduino. Thomas wanted there to be a device put into the circuit so it could be controlled/automated. So I spent a class period researching how to do that.

The other thing I dealt with was how to get the piece into the previously shown hat. The crankshaft is longer than the hat so both sides are sticking out (thus the existence of the propeller). My solution, based on measurements/geometry, is to cut off half of the top of the hat so the box frame of the device can go in (the wings and their hing mechanism as well as the propeller can be unscrewed). Half of the top of the top hat will be cut so it opens. One side (the one with the propeller) will be where the top hat "opens". It will also have a slit down the side where the crankshaft can go down after you stick the other two points inward (said slit might be moved to the back with the wings depending on preference).

On wednesday, I soldered a 6 volt battery holder to a connector which can go in the arduino to power it. I also included a switch in this circuit so it can be turned off and on.

This leaves arduino circuit to deal with.

What I did THANKSGIVING EDITION

It being Thanksgiving you would think I would take a break, but no siree! I worked a LOT and this time I had the help of my dad. And there were several developments in this project.

First of all: we metaphorically threw out the whole 3d printed front wing holder piece plan because even if we did get the motor going we knew it would still be too fast for the plastic to handle. Thus we decided to go with a more durable material: an erector set. But not just any erector set...my dad's erector set so it has be from like the 50s or so.

 We used two overlapping hinges in place of the front wing holder (they were from my dad's old van). Side note: me and dad have a lot of parts at home which we use so you'll soon see a pattern in where we get things.

We figured out how to intertwine the motor with the new front hing by taking a gear shaft from a remote control tank we once had but have long since gotten rid of (but the gears shaft was in the erector set for some reason). This made the same sort of motion as the Ornicopter model I have previous linked to and took the model from.

The most major development was the sensor which starts the motor. I knew I wanted to use a photocell but I was having difficulty finding a circuit layout which worked with what I wanted. That is when we found this old joker toy:

In theory, one just shines a light at the joker's chest (which contains a photocell) and he collapses and then comes back up. It was a pretty cute toy. My dad had used another of these on a tv to change the channel (though it didn't work as well since you had to shoot it just right or it wouldn't unmute the tv). So anyway, we opened it up and the mechanism is basically the same as the motor layout we were building:

We took the circuit board with resistors/etc. and attached it to our new motor and attached a new photocell to it. 

 One difficulty we found was the photocell would only respond to strobe lighting to activate it. We tried several ways including a cylinder but it just won't operate without a strobe light (it was too sensitive to regular light that it had to have a distinct change of light to actually change).

The other update of the plans was the addition of a front fan. In all versions of this project, the plan was to have the wings coming out of the back of the hat. However, since the old tank gear shaft (is that even the right word for a shaft that has multiple gears on it?) was so long it would stick out not just the back (as previously planned) but also the front. So we decided to include a propeller. This entire set up only requires two AA batteries.

What I did 11/21

11/21
On the previous thursday (11/17), I was able to print off another version of the "front" piece. This time made of a more flexible material (I am sorry I don't know which material it is...I think it might be ninjaflex but could be wrong). So I cleaned that up so all the holes fit the wire and the chopsticks.

I also worked on the coding and what pieces I should add to it. Here is my research:
https://www.fairchildsemi.com/datasheets/BC/BC548.pdf - transistor https://www.fairchildsemi.com/products/discretes/bipolar-transistors/small-signal-bjts/BC548.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=NiFpaZFqzRsC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=arduino+tutorial+dc+motor+photocell&source=bl&ots=vVI50fUmGg&sig=IIt_vTqWg7TiFoekJRwZ1y-QYv8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ9vbxxbrQAhWJYiYKHVL9CC0Q6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&q=arduino%20tutorial%20dc%20motor%20photocell&f=false

https://circuits.io/circuits/3300062-the-unnamed-circuit/edit

https://circuits.io/circuits/3225974-the-unnamed-circuit

http://www.14core.com/starter-18-dc-motor-on-arduino/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Photoresistor-LED-onoff/step3/The-Code/

http://cratel.wichita.edu/blogs/ee577aspring2012/2012/02/21/pravin-maharjan-control-a-dc-motor-using-photocell/

https://openhomeautomation.net/smart-lighting-arduino-photocell/

What I did 11/14 - 11/16

11/15
The printer was still down so I left early and went to the library to have it printed. I knew it would be too stiff a material but I wanted to have something to play with to think about the wings and other aspects for next class

11/16
I played with the wire I would be using for the hinge mechanism. It is a little stiff but might still work. I also worked with the chopsticks for the wings. The one thing I am not sure about is how to connect the motor to the hing spiral because thingiverse Ornithopter's video doesn't have a motor. Thomas gave me a number of a past student to contact but I am pretty sure me and my dad will be able to figure it out since next week is thanksgiving.

What I did 11/7 - 11/9

11/7

Just as I feared, the plastic of the front piece was too thin on the wing connectors so when I was fiddling with them, one of them snapped. So I was right about having to reprint. Thomas told me that I can edit stl files in sketchup but the extension warehouse was down for maintenance during the class period so I was unable to continue. I did buy some cheap chopsticks I'll use for the wings of the piece.

We finished up the reading discussions as well today. I am beginning to feel under the weather so I didn't participate as much as I usually do.

11/9

With the model I had printed I had to go in and fix some of the geometry to expand the wing flap portion of the front. I converted it from stl to sketchup but I had to fix some of the gometry in order to expand the wings. However, Thomas showed me a better way to erase and more efficient geometry building so he did part of the expanding and then emailed me the file to fix up the angles and odd lines created in the conversion and expansion.

11/13 - Sunday report

We tried to print it using Bendlay but the printer wasn't happy with that. After 15 minutes of it doing nothing we switched to pla/pha. We thought it was going to work (it was making the right sounds), but then the extruder piece unhooked itself so it was dragging that around without anything really happening. So we quickly stopped it. Lyani tried to fix it but accidently touched the metal extruder piece and burned herself.

Guess I'll have to wait till next week.