aram’s blog

I’ve been thinking of using magnets to create a ’something’ rather than using them to put photos on the wall ever since I bought numbers of magnets from Korea about 1 year ago. These magnets have several different shape, size, and strength of magnetism. As it says, ‘magnetism’ attracts the opposite side. This definition only applies to physical engagement typically known as the attachment of two(or more than two) magnets. In this week’s project, I thought about more human and finally came up with ‘dollar bill.’

I remember reading a novel that tells love story of lovers separated(usually against their will or to avoid certain dangerous, threatening situation). As an indication or symbol to recognize each other when reunion, they tear a bill(not sure how much?) and keep each side in their wallet until they meet again.
When I was younger, I thought it was very romantic that I even wanted to actually try the same.

This kind of sharing idea now becomes more commercial, such as modular wedding rings for couple and etc.

See how my dollar bill ‘connects dots’ and ‘makes ends meet’ in action.

One dollar bill glued on a wood piece. At a glance, it looks like a dollar stack. On left corner, there is a wire soldered on a piece of copper mash foam. It was designed to attach on the magnet to see if it conducts electricity. If it’s possible, I can expand my imagination to have more interactive things such as glowing LED.

Close view of implanted magnets on each side’s profile.

I used crazy -glue to attach a copper mesh piece. The glue was messed up when soldering. Clearly figured that soldering on magnets is too difficult. Now I am thinking of using these magnets only for ‘connection’ - docking action. If any circuit is required to finish this project,
I’ll consider attaching mesh foam on the wood board.And here are some inspirations from YouTube :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XliOko5xrr0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uAO5dTBMDkY

I remember watching a cartoon (probably it was Jetson.) with so many tacky things that were supposed to be ‘futuristic’ in the context, such as a little box transforms into a far much bigger thing. That thing could be a house, a spaceship, or even a whole new ’space’.

When brainstorming this project, I was thinking about building a module for many different spaces so that I could actually store them in my closet.
Each space captured in a same modular format which is book. In the center, there are also modular containers displayed in slot-loading type of shelves. Users always add or remove those containers to decorate the ‘walls’ when the book was open.

The reason that I come up with this modular book is from my work experience as merchandiser. Optimizing and maximizing the limited retail space to effectively display of mass merchandise was big part of merchandiser’s responsibility. In addition, retail business requires fast, dynamic change of seasonal merchandise. This became my challenge and in fact, stressed me out many times. Whenever I had to change the whole theme for new display, my frustration grew. “What if there’s pre-designed display unit in life-scale and I could actually store each season’s display pattern in the stock room?” Back then, it sounded a bit too crazy to myself, one thing is for sure: I was thinking of ‘modular’ space.

This is not my first time doing Analog In and Out. The potentiometer worked fine last time, but it didn’t tonight no matter what I was testing around anything.
The problem was that LED didn’t show delicate difference when rotating either potentiometer or flex sensor. It kept blinking in very same interval. Then I switched the power source from USB to A/C adaptor but same result was shown. Only reason that I can assume what caused this malfunctioning LED might be from the wood attaching process. Since the screws were about 3mm longer than the depth of wood piece, I had to grind them by using of disc grinder.
Did it somehow damage the board? Were those screws fasten too much?

Sensors I tried to sync:

• Potentiameter
• Flex Sensor
• Force Sensor

On arduino program, I could see numbers changing and they were not following given analog input. They even varied when the switch stopped.

__________________________________________________________________
Revised Sep 25th - It turns out, my board only works when doing Digital IO, not Analog IO.
Mouna helped me out enormously in thousand ways to figure out what caused this, we finally came up with the idea of ‘partial damage’ on my arduino board. So, I need to buy an extra board to explore deeper Analog world.

• Two LEDs (Red/ Yellow)
• One Momentary Push-button Switch
• Voltage Regulator
• Resisters

At first, I was a little careless for resister so didn’t get the right amount of light from LED. Very soon I figured that I need ‘lighter’ resister which is 97.5 Ohms one and….Voila!

Many gadgets such as iPhone, PDAs, or compact digital cameras require a protection which is commonly named ‘pouch’, or ’sheild’.It transforms to be a container for my iBook charger. I’ve noticed that many electronics products share similar dimensions, which means there could be ‘one fits for all’ solutions when it comes to container(or protective pouch).

DIY pouch that costs almost nothing but 1 or 2 hours of crafting work - this was my initial idea to make a ‘useful’ thing.

A combination of duct tape and wires. All are supplied from shop at ITP.

By using of a different color duct tape, I decorated the outline with thick stroke. The implanted wires show the structure and pattern inside.
When it’s widely open, it reminds me of a diaper.

I am writing this blog because all my past entries in ITP’s wordpress have gone for no reason.
It is good to recall what I have done ‘before’ even though that’s only just three weeks ago.
I skipped the very first class because of all hassle for enrolling/waiving classes, then realized I was supposed to create a ‘thing’ that communicates what I am interested exploring in the class.

Within a very short amount of time, the first thing occurred in my mind was making a something useful and cheap. Cheap should mean almost zero dollar to me. Looking around the place (shop at ITP) I was sitting, it didn’t take me too long to come up with the idea of making a thing out of very accessible, common, cheap, and even friendly: a duct tape.

• Pros: almost ‘zero’ cost to make. light weight. soft. doesn’t take much space.
• Cons: tape pills off. not durable. cannot provide maximum protection.

Many gadgets such as iPhone, PDAs, or compact digital cameras require a protection which is commonly named ‘pouch’, or ’sheild’.It transforms to be a container for my iBook charger. I’ve noticed that many electronics products share similar dimensions, which means there could be ‘one fits for all’ solutions when it comes to container(or protective pouch).

DIY pouch that costs almost nothing but 1 or 2 hours of crafting work - this was my initial idea to make a ‘useful’ thing.

A combination of duct tape and wires. All are supplied from shop at ITP.

By using of a different color duct tape, I decorated the outline with thick stroke. The implanted wires show the structure and pattern inside.
When it’s widely open, it reminds me of a diaper.

I am writing this blog because all my past entries in ITP’s wordpress have gone for no reason.
It is good to recall what I have done ‘before’ even though that’s only just three weeks ago.
I skipped the very first class because of all hassle for enrolling/waiving classes, then realized I was supposed to create a ‘thing’ that communicates what I am interested exploring in the class.

Within a very short amount of time, the first thing occurred in my mind was making a something useful and cheap. Cheap should mean almost zero dollar to me. Looking around the place (shop at ITP) I was sitting, it didn’t take me too long to come up with the idea of making a thing out of very accessible, common, cheap, and even friendly: a duct tape.

• Pros: almost ‘zero’ cost to make. light weight. soft. doesn’t take much space.
• Cons: tape pills off. not durable. cannot provide maximum protection.