What were you making.

I wanted to design and make a light, that’s controlled with a circuit.  The circuit was to control the light so that when light levels dropped the light would turn it self on, and off when the light levels came up again.

The light was to be made out of plastic, there was an option that the light could also feature metal.  The design however did not require this material.

The light design came from having researched different designs, enabling me to get a clearer idea of what modern designs were like.  Haven done this i came across a light design see ’main infleunce’, where the light was made from sectional parts.  This developed my design approach by looking at Octagons, this development can be scene in the Product research category.

I used a white and red theme in my light design, having done a questionnaire i found these where the more desirable colours for such a light.

What went well?

In this project i particularly enjoyed creating different shapes using the octagons, and how you could easily get carried away, and create huge pieces, if you wanted to.

My circuit came out well, i did buy the circuit as a kit, but i did develop my knowledge by having to add different input and output device.  I was not completely happy with the electronic side of the project, but by doing it this way; of buying a kit circuit i was able to visualise the way electronics work better than if i had started from scratch. 

From doing this i feel a lot more confident with the electronics side of the course, and ega to develop my learning in this area.

What did not go well?

The challenging part of the project was getting the size of the grooves for the octagons the right size, so it fitted together well.

However trial and error and using test combs to find the correct size required did help in the making.

Progression for the future

I would have liked to have created a kit to  a ‘build it yourself’ light, i think it could be fun being able to change different ways of having the light.  This would definitely be something i would like to look into, however the electrics side to the design might make it not fee-sable.

The circuit needs to be inside the light therefore it needs to be disguised so you cant see.  I decided to design a acrylic box that has an opening to the side so that the power jack can be fitted in.  A whole on top so the bulb can sit upright.  Then a smaller hole for the LDR to sit through, this will enable it to sense the light.

Inner box:

The box sections can be designed on 2D Design (as shown below) then cut using the laser printer again.

It was stated in the brief that the light needs to be able to turn it self on when the light levels drop and be able to turn it self  off again when the light levels become light again.

I found a circuit from maplin which you make up yourself.  The circuit was a LDR (light dependent resistor) sensor, it had capabilities to be fitted to mains electric and have the whole thing powering a bulb (max 12v), being that i was using a LED (12v) bulb this would be fine.

The circuit diagram i used for this can be found at LDR circuit .

This can also be simply translated in Crocodile clips.

This can also be designed in circuit wizard:

In both the circuit wizard and crocodile clips diagrams both illustrate that when the light levels drop the light turns it self on, then when the light level comes back up the light turns it self off.

    

Using a digital Multimeter you can find out on your 3OO Ma AC adapter which lead is negative and which is positive, the lead needs to be striped back and soldered onto the power jack on the circuit board.

The Bulb is a 12v, 20 LED bulb for the white acyclic piece, the piece is having one bulb, the LEDs are red and gives a nice red glow to the light.  The Bulb needs to be connected to the terminal block and power supply.

The red piece has two tiers to it therefore requires two bulbs, otherwise if there was only one bulb only part of the light would be lit up.  The bulbs are 12v, 20 white LED bulb, two bulbs can be fitted to the circuit by having them wired up parallel, then the power is being shared out equally and it saves you from having to have to circuits for this piece.

The LDR wants to be connected to wires so that it comes out from the circuit board, this is the part that senses the light, therefore it needs to be able to catch the light.

When all the acyclic pieces have been cut on the laser printer, the pieces can be fitted together.  This can be fixed together using plastic cement which glues it really quickly.

To do this i glued the pieces in sections so that there are two parts, this allowed me to be able to get into the light and get to the bulb being able to do this is very important, especially when designing a piece which is meant to be mass produced.

The making of the Octagon pieces will be done using the laser cutter.  This is the best techneque used as it is fast and once you have the octagon shaped designed on 2D Design you can run many off. 

Before designing my Octagon on 2D Design i had to do test pieces to see what the width of the grooves needed to be. This was done by doing comb pieces with a number of different size grooves, then from this you can see which fits better.

As you can see even 0.05mm can have an effect on whether or not the sections fit in together.  From doing these tests it saves alot of time and material later on.

Designing the Octagon on 2D Design

The design only has to be done once on 2D Design then it can be copied and pasted when you come to print on the laser cutter.

Shape for the octagon:

Design 1                            Design 2

I decided that the two lights i would make would be these two designs.

Design 1 will be made out of 3mm acyclic white and will need 30 Octagons.

Design 2 will made out of 3mm red transparent acrylic and will need 38 octagons.

 I did my design work using Pro desktop.  Designing using this software was very useful as you can get a 3D view of what it will look like.  However some of my designs the octagons overlap each other (as in the white final piece), which meant it was not possible to create the design on Pro Desktop.

The designs were created by having a initial design of the octagon.  On ProDesktop you click on assembly, and add a component, then you add the previously designed octagon.  Therefore once you have designed one piece, you can use it over and over agin in your designs.

Octagon Part

Design 1

3rd Angle Projection and isometric view of the design 1.

Design 2

3rd Angle projection and isometric view of design 2.

Design 3

3rd  Angle projection and isometriv view of design 3.

In creating my light I had to take into consideration the heat that the light will be giving off.  As the Octogan pieces are made out of plastic I started by looking at the different plastics available, thermosetting would of been better as they can be heated and never use form.  But these are usual resins which are not pratical for my design. Haven decided I would rather work with acrylic, I have decided to research into using a low heat bulb in doing this it can be enviromentally friendly. 

‘According to a new report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), TreeHugger has been right to promote the use of compact fluorescent (here, here and here as well) and other energy-efficient lighting: a global switch to efficient lighting systems would trim the world’s electricity bill by nearly one-tenth. The carbon dioxide emissions saved by such a switch would, it concludes, dwarf cuts so far achieved by adopting wind and solar power. Wow. According to Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst with the IEA and one of the report’s authors, “19% of global electricity generation is taken for lighting — that’s more than is produced by hydro or nuclear stations, and about the same that’s produced from natural gas.” For the individual TreeHugger, the report concludes that the easiest, most obvious switch to make is from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent systems, and to watch out for the LED revolution, just around the lighting corner’ (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/change_a_light.php)

For more information on energy savin light bulbs, see internet site…. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/energy_saving_products/types_of_energy_saving_recommended

I then decided to create a larger octagon out of foam board.  The size was 50mm x 50mm and i cut out 36 of these shapes so that i could put the light together and test it with a bulb inside it.  This will help in making my decision of whether to use octagons in my light design.

As you can see the red light inside a white light creates a nice glow and gives a subtle feminine/tranquil look to it.

By doing these tests i can put the octons together in the different shapes that the light could be displayed like.

I decided to test the octoplay octons and see what kind of shapes could be created.  Also whether using this kind of idea of interlocking design would work when being used a light.

The testing was beneficial as i was able to get a better idea of how the octons interlink.  I feel that creating a octon shape light would work.  I’m going to test with a larger size octagon piece, in order to make the light larger.