Frames, Switches, and Building
This week was a challenge for us to (A) create a final(ish) prototype casing, (B) get the wiring and LED marvels to happen, and (C) get the thing ready for testing.
First, we separated our tasks and split our energy. I went on a frame-or-box hunt for the best casing. I explored The Container Store, Bed Bath abd Beyond, Sam Flax, et al. Tons of choices. Not all of which were rejected right away, but the thing to be square, which is rare in prefab articles I found.
We finally settled on the frame idea we styarted with. The matting provided the opening and a workable material to cut and stretch fabrich over. We decided to ise a rectangular frame because it fit the hand best without being too enormous as a square thing on the table.
The programming and electronic testing wqas going well (Yan Yan and Leah sweated the multiple LED array details). We had a discussion about switches, and the nature of the casting-as-random-event as it related to the switch initiating the whole sequence. We has a rocker switch, a buttonswitch, and a pressure switch that none of us could make any sense of (including Scott F.) We settled on the rocker switch for now...
The prototype was planned based on the frame idea, and Scott began constructing the structures that would support the triggering mechanism, the LED arrays on eitehr side and the Frame itself. We ultimately will have a laser cut of all the I Ching symbols right from the mat board. We created an Illustrator file that had the cuts in place (that will be cut next week, since it takes a few days to get the laser cutter request processed).
The whole thing is coming along, but we bit off quite a bit more than we could chew here for the third week. The prototype is still up on blocks in the garage, but we will have one-fine-tuned machine when it's done. Which will be next week with any luck.
