2020-06-12 (F) Weekly Summary

I still needed a cover to contain the magnet spinner and base. I was worried about this piece because I thought I would need to recreate the base with the same hole positions, but I could reduce the height of all the pillars to zero and change the hole size.

Cover rendering

When I made the changes for my cover piece, I realized that I printed the first base with a doubled hex size, and that threw off all my dimensions, so the cover did not fit. My first option was to manipulate the code to produce a cover that would match my miscalculated base, and my second option was to print a new base, but that would take more plastic. I opted to produce a new base with the proper calculations.

Cover and base, ready to assemble

I assembled the parts and decided to try a new microcontroller package called an M5StickC, an ESP32 bundled with sensors, a battery, and a display. The hardware uses Blockly, a visual programming representation for Python. I wrote a Hello, World program and a blinking light to get started. The onboard screen and battery already make this a valuable piece of hardware.

Hello, World in Blockly

I had trouble connecting to the M5StickC through its cable and the manufacturer's IDE, but I had no problems with their network connection after I updated the firmware. The second program counted the rotations, and I started to calculate the RPMs and even went as far as to graph it with the Arduino plotter.

Code and graphical feedback

I soldered jumper wires to a reed switch and recorded a short video, but I found that my magnet, which was larger than necessary, was tripping my sensor twice per rotation. Since I calculated the speed every time the shaft rotated, it led to a jittery and inaccurate reading.
HexShaftMonitor moving, but inaccurate

 The most important thing I did this week was to attend a protest against the police for their continual abuse and murder of people of color. At the rally, the most powerful thing I heard that attendance is the most significant help for the cause, and I hope people continue to show up for justice because I will.

Protest against police

The rest of the summary posts have been arranged by date.
First time here?

Completed projects from year 1
Completed projects from year 2
Completed projects from year 3
Completed projects from year 4
Completed projects from year 5
Completed projects from year 6
Completed projects from year 7

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