A solid full week of school at the Voc Tech. A little spring cleaning happened, as we cleared out a backlog of old computers and hardware, while making preparations for new work stations in the classroom.
Junior Sacha Silvia took a break from the LED Word Clock project this week to help create a 3D CAD file for a WWII bunk lamp shade for the USS Cassin Young, which is moored at the Boston Navy Yard. He writes on his website:
This week I took a small break from the word clock project because I was waiting before the long stretch of hours of soldering that I have coming up. Instead, I worked on a project that one of my teachers, Mr. L, offered to everyone in the class. Knowing that I needed a break I accepted the offer to direct my attention to something else for a while. The project was short and simple and just consisted of designing a new lampshade for a battleship lamp. The plan was to make a 3d model and then 3d print the model using transparent PLA.
I started by measuring different dimensions of the current lampshade but it was difficult because it was a bit deformed. I made an initial model of the lampshade by creating the bottom layer that included the screw holes to mount the shade to the base of the lamp. I test-cut this initial model on some cardboard using the laser cutter but it was a bit off due to the deformation of the physical lampshade I was using for reference.
After the initial design failed I went back to design a new model with more precise and carefully taken measurements. I then cut this out on cardboard again and it was actually a nearly exact match. I was very happy with the results from the test cut so I continued to model the lampshade with these new base dimensions as the guide. It took a day or two but I finished the model and it visually looks almost identical to the real thing so I am also very happy with that as well.
After getting approval from Mr.L on my design he gave me the greenlight to print the lampshade. This first print is mostly a test before we use the more expensive clear PLA so if everything is good with this test print we can proceed to printing the vinal version
Next week it is back to the word clock where I will solder all of the boards!
See photos and more on his website at this link.
Senior Anthony Cartolano is nearing the final stages of his LED Frame for a basketball jersey. On his website he says:
This week I mainly focused on painting my frame and perfecting it. To start off, my old friend Cormac to help me paint since he claims to have a lot of experience in the field. We started off by taking a look at what I painted last week and agreed that we should sand and add another coat. After sanding down all the rough edges using the Dremel, we added a second coat to the frame. The next day we repeated this process and it came out good so we didn’t need to do it again. This process made me realize that painting is harder than just adding one layer; you have to sand between coats and make sure it is spread evenly or else it would come out looking weird. I added some final touches abound the inside and outside of the frame, and after that I was ready to move on to the back piece of the whole frame where the jersey will go.
Me and Cormac had already painted the back with a pain brush while we were in the middle of the sanding and adding more coats for the frame process, and when it dried it looked very uneven and not like what I expected. We flipped it over to paint on the other side and did the same process, but instead of two people painting at the same time I let Cormac take over so the whole thing would look more consistent. Even thought it looked better than the other side, there were still noticeable brush strokes. Luckily, my dear friend Milo Austin was able to bring in a paint roller and we were able to use that. Currently it is drying and in the meantime I found a piece of acrylic that I can use as the cover for the frame, but I have to figure out how to fit it in the laser cutter.
Track the entire project at his website linked here.
The Sophomores have moved along swiftly with their Sumobot projects, with most teams mastering motor control, using a battery, and having their sensors differentiate between light and dark. These are going to be some great bots coming from this group!
MVTHS Engineering 
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