A little lumia...

[j4cbo]

I've been inspired by all the lumia projects going on, and decided to build my own little shrunken version. After a lot of scheming and playing around in Autodesk Inventor, I wound up with a design that would fit two coaxial wheels, motors and belt drive, and three lasers (red and blue diodes, and a green pointer core) in a little box small enough to fit in one hand. The main case is a single block, fabricated out of laser-sintered nylon, into which all the various components snap and/or screw in. I got the first parts back yesterday, and though it'll take a few more iterations and some PCB design to get it all together, here's a little preview...







And here it is up and running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue9gnlVlr0k

The control board will have drivers for all the motors and diodes, plus a radio, so it can be controlled remotely, synced to music, and so on.

[dnar]

Nice. You have inspired me to have a crack at building one too as I have a drawer full of 660, 445, 532 diodes and modules.

What did you use for the disc?

[kitatit]

Wow really impressed with your design work

I was looking at it and noticed features that were impossible to machine and was scratching my head.
Then I went back and re-read and saw the laser sintering! Sick!

What is the surface finish like? Was it an expensive process?

Nice work, you definitely have put been thinking laterally. Top marks!

Can't wait to see it finished

Kit

[dsli_jon]

Totally-awesome, J.. This community is just awesome..

Lookin forward to the 'results-pix'...
j

[Mindwaave]

Sweet! I'm almost done with a lumia build myself - I think you've just inspired me to finish it up this week... Thanks for sharing!

[j4cbo]

Wow really impressed with your design work

I was looking at it and noticed features that were impossible to machine and was scratching my head.
Then I went back and re-read and saw the laser sintering! Sick!

What is the surface finish like? Was it an expensive process?

It was kinda expensive - about $45 for the main block, plus ~$20 for the wheels and pulleys. I used Shapeways, which charges by volume, and now that I have the part back it's a lot tougher than I expected - I could have used a lot less material. The surface finish is sort of rough, feels like plastic that's been media-blasted for a sandstone finish, but the material is really tough and ever so slightly flexible.

Last night I put together some itty bitty diodes and finished up the control board layout - the controller is a whopping 1" by 1.25" and fits in below the optics next to the green laser. I'll spend the weekend double-checking it and then order boards.



You can see in that photo how I forgot to specify a rather important hole in the part and had to hack it in myself with a Dremel...

[kitatit]

That's a lot cheaper than I was expecting. That's actually quiet viable for one offs.
Hmmm very interesting. You've got me inspired to apply this technology somewhere.

Thanks for the clues

Cheers
Kit

[dar303]

Very nice work! Were did you find those cute little motors?
I'll be following this thread closely! You really should post this to Hackaday and Makezine.com, they just love these kinds of projects and I know it would inspire a lot of people!

[StarryEyed]

Hey,
It looks like that the first surface mirror is the wrong way round.Or was it just a quick and dirty build for the photo?

StarryEyed

[j4cbo]

Very nice work! Were did you find those cute little motors?

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1596

I'll be following this thread closely! You really should post this to Hackaday and Makezine.com, they just love these kinds of projects and I know it would inspire a lot of people!

I will once it's done

It looks like that the first surface mirror is the wrong way round.Or was it just a quick and dirty build for the photo?

You're right, it kinda does look that way at the top/sides of the mirror in the photo - I just double-checked, though, and it's the right way around. It's easier to tell if you look at the bottom edge of the visible part of the mirror; if the coating were on the side nearer to the camera, that gap wouldn't be visible.