Manufacture



the screen shots above show how I set the depth to cut to, and which plane to use.




















The four screen shots above show the simulation of the cutting process, this is very helpful as it picks out any problems that will occur during the manufacture of the product, areas highlighted in purple are where problems may arise concerning the depth of the cutting tool being used. 


Unfortunately, the size of the model that I wanted to make was too large to be cut out using the Boxford cutter. due to the time constraints I decided to use a different method to make my prototype.


















I decided to slice my model using the RapidPro programme (above).






















Here are the pdf files produced by RapidPro. Each box is one 3mm layer of the model.


Here are some images showing the process of assembling the two halves of the amplifier, using PVA glue. this method was very time consuming and required a little more skill than using the some of the CAD/CAM machines. 



After using wood filler, I sanded down the excess to create a smooth curve around both the top and bottom of the amplifier.




After sealing the two parts using sanding sealer and finishing off the surface using many coats of wood primer and fine surface filler, the two halves of my amplifier where then sprayed with a high gloss black paint.




I then built the inside of the bottom half of my amplifier using laser cut acrylic sheet. The purpose of this was to  house the inner components e.g. battery and circuit board.

                                                                                                           

At this point I decided to change my design slightly. I chose not to use the LED shoelaces that I had purchased, but instead take advantage of the light gathering acrylic that had became available in the university workshops. I decided to have a central layer of acrylic, in between the two plywood halves and use bright white LED lights on the inside of my model to emit light through the plastic.



After changing my design I then had to create housing for the LEDs that would now be located inside of my amplifier. i did this by designing this shape (bottom left) on corel draw, and cutting it out on the laser cutters.

Then, with all of the parts and components ready, it was just the task of placing the battery and circuit board in the right place and screwing the two halves together that remained...




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