This year for the Maker Faire, I worked with Demetri and we were super excited for it considering last year’s got cancelled. This year the thing we both agreed on is that we wanted to sold a real problem with our project not just make something cool, and what better a problems to solve than ones caused by the pandemic. After a short brainstorming we knew our idea was great when we thought of a mask dispenser. We knew this would make life easier for many people since they would have easy access to masks wherever they went. We knew this project was within an Arduino Uno’s abilities and we would have to just build the rest. We drew up these sketches of our image on TinkerCad.
Next we had to create a simulation to make sure the arduino portion of our project was working and we had a clear plan. We also used TinkerCad for this part of the project. It was a simple PIR sensor that activated a servo motor to rotate one 360 degree turn.
Around the same time we also worked on our parts order. Being at home we needed a lot of supplies. We had to put in orders for arduino parts, wood, and a coil that would be turned by the servo to dispense the masks (same mechanism as a vending machine). This process was quick but essential to the process.
Once our parts came in we were ready to start building. Thinking that the arduino would take the most time to complete I started with that. The first challenge I had was with our simulation not working when we applied it. I had to do some research and arduino review to fix it and we went with a whole new arduino set up. After some trial and error we got this new set up to work.
Our next task was to connect the servo motor to the coil and have the entire mechanism working together. We first tried to use our attachment that we ordered that was meant to come with the coil. That didn’t work because the servo just didn’t fit in the attachment slot right. Next I tried to fasten the servo to the coil with a wire. I was able to get them connected but the servo lacked the torque to really turn the coil effectively. It made sense as we had underestimated the weight and density of the metal the coil was made of. Finally I decided to make a new coil with a thicker wire I found in my house. This was much lighter and turned much easier. Also being more flexible it was easy to fasten to the servo. (Pictured 1st attempt, 2nd, 3rd)
Now that the entire mechanical side of the project was done it was time to build the structure. To my surprise this ended up being the hardest part of the project. I originally planned on using drills and a Black and Decker power drill. This just did not work at all. I struggled to get the nails really into the MDF boards. Even when I did they slid out after trying to connect to boards. After trying countless times with the screws and different approaches, such as drilling a smaller hole first and then inserting the screw, I still had no success. My next option was to try using nails and a hammer but that quickly failed as well with the boards falling down shortly after each time I attempted to connect them. I realized I had no more tools or strategies to use with this and ran out of time to find a solution.
This concluded our project other than working on our reflection and documentation. I think the biggest takeaway from this time was that I should not take for granted the tools and support the Maker Space has to offer. At home I just didn’t have the tools to build this project and we struggled immensely in both completing this project and running behind on schedule the entire time. The main challenges we really faced were just not having a teacher to guide us as much being remote and not having the abundance of resources the Maker Space has to offer. Although the project didn’t go as planned I would definitely do this project again. I think doing it again I would like to be in person, obviously to have teacher support and resources in the maker space which I know appreciate 10x as much. Also I think it would have saved me sometime if I did a little arduino review before so I didn’t waste time during the project relearning certain things. Also I didn’t get as much pictures and videos as I wanted because I was working on it alone being remote. Overall, I really enjoyed doing this project even though it didn’t turn out how I would have liked. I think I learned a lot because of the struggles I faced at home and next year will be able to apply some of those lessons and create a great project.
Sean Nicgorski 