echo

A self-sustaining meditation chime. 

The Project:

Echo is an assembly of welded mild steel and walnut. From its creation, I learned prototyping skills, the importance of the order of operations in manufacturing, tolerance stacking, and basic circuitry.

When the user presses the gold button on the sculpture base, the L-shaped mallet-lifter raises the suspended mallet until it drops upon the singing bowl resounding a calming chime.

Skills:

  • rapid prototyping

  • mechanism design

  • TIG welding

  • woodworking

  • circuit/software design

Prototypes

Goal: Create a mechanism that will strike the singing bowl three times at equally spaced time intervals.

In order to design the striking mechanism, I started prototyping pendulums, as they are known for consistent timing. However, not enough potential energy was stored in the pendulum to strike the bowl multiple times.

I pivoted to lifting the mallet with a electric motor. Shown here is my duron and foam core prototype of my circuit (hidden in the base) and striking mechanism.

In my final prototype I tested out the processes and materials I would need for creating my final project: welding, wood, routing, and wood-turning.

The Circuit

My first experience with electronics and arduino.

Welding

Goal: Learn to TIG weld a tee joint in mild steel in order to join flat sheet metal to protruding towers.

Practicing butt joints.

Practicing tee joints.

Success at tee joints on a tube.

Final weld set-up with six grounding clamps to avoid warping.

Process Photos

Making sure all parts of my base are concentric.

Wood routing with a lasercut template.

Drilling hole for motor through internal and external tower.

Final

Previous
Previous

beats by Rae

Next
Next

Mass Optimized Climbing Robot