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This week's assignment was to use design a box in Fusion 360 and cut it out with the laser cutter. We were also asked to do some 3D modeling in Fusion 360.
## Planning my Box
After seeing some of the examples Nathan showed us in class, I decided that I wanted to do a mix of the jigsaw sort of press fitting walls and some scoring to fold the sides up. I also wanted to put in a door because I imagine that having a door will be useful for environmental sensing enclosures to allow researchers to get in, take out the SD card, etc.
I sketched out my initial design in my personalized Hello Kitty lifeplanner (yes, it's a real thing). First, I imagined that the entire front panel would be attached using the jigsaw/teeth method, but then I realized I could have it attached to the bottom with a score line.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/sketch1.jpg" alt="a small 3D sketch of a box" height="300">
Having the front attached to the bottom with a score line made it easier to assemble, but did require me to create a separate sketch for the door.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/sketch2.jpg" alt="a small 3D sketch of a box" height="300">
## Box 2D Modeling
I started by just trying to figure it out in Fusion 360 based on what we learned in class. I got pretty far along then used Nathan's video for the teeth and mirroring. I had already made rectangles for the four panels, but Bobby showed me how I could mirror just small parts, which was helpful to mirror just the teeth then. I made my box with 8 teeth and played around by changing the parameters to use less, which left a lot of extra lines but generally worked.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/fusion1.png" alt="Fusion 3D sketch of box with scoring lines and teeth" height="300">
I made two separate sketches, one for the outline of the box and another for the door. I also cut them separately in the laser cutter, which required me taping down the box to score the inside of the front flap for the door.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/fusion2.png" alt="Fusion 3D sketch of box side with flap" height="300">
Initially I planned to engrave a beaver on the door, but after learning how to use the vinyl cutter I decided to instead put a beaver sticker on the door. This was pretty easy by just using Inkscape to import a file then searching for beaver and pasting that in. But Sophia said that it looked like a turtle, maybe because I chose lime green :D.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/cut1.jpg" alt="a laser cut box from the inside" height="400">
Because the teeth didn't fit together perfectly, I had to glue the box together, which I did on the inside creases to hide the glue. In retrospect, less teeth may have been useful and I could have added an offset for the angle to fit the teeth better.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/box1.jpg" alt="a laser cut box from the inside" height="300">
Then I found a "doorknob" in the Toy Parts bin, which I glued onto the door. Finally, I went to the white box in the lab to take some glam shots of my box and used it to store some parts I grabbed from the SEC EE Active Learning Lab.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/glam1.jpg" alt="a laser cut box with beaver sticker and doorknob on door" height="400">
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## Fusion Tutorial
I went through some of the CAM CAD tutorials, the main issue I still have is around mirroring. I probably need to practice more but enjoyed learning more about angles and such.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/tutorial.png" alt="fusion 360 tutorial image" height="300">
## 3D Modeling
I have an autoimmune disease so take a LOT of medications. One of the former projects that was interesting to me was the smart pill box. But actually, I realized that I don't need a smart pill box, just one that stays together, as the plastic ones I buy at the pharmacy keep breaking.
So I decided to make a 3D model of a pill box. I'll start simple with one small container then scale up to a week long box with one container per day then scale up again to a week long box with multiple containers per day.
I found a good <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSBsBTMsGTk">YouTube tutorial</a> about making a 3D hinged box that I used to get a head start. This helped me learn about the Extrude tool, Shell tool, and making hinges. The problem with this tutorial is that it assumes a hinge outside the box and I'd rather just have a sort of flap that is scored and opens, so I'll have to play around with that.
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/modeling1.png" alt="3D model of box with lid" height="300">
<img src="/harvard_ps70/02_2D/pics/modeling2.png" alt="3D model of box with lid" height="300">