On the Tracks

After the successful completion of our race cars we're now on to building our ramp/track.  The first length is built so the next task is the construction of an automatic car release mechanism — so there's no cheating!! ;)

Fri 18 Jan

New Year, New Energy

Our Stereo Amplifier project is back on the table after the Christmas hiatus.  It's all finishing up now.  We've got to be careful we don't rush it now though because we don't want to spoil all the good work that has been done so far.

We had a blast!

What an amazing time we all had last week with Adrian and James from Atec Engineering! 

Some technical issues on the computer-based drawings lead to a last minute decision being made to cut our projects on a laser cutter rather than the water-jet.  It was a slower process but it got the job done.

Everyone was amazed that light — just light — could cut through wood and plastic!  We found that we needed to make 2-3 passes to cut all the way through — it's only a 50W laser — but it certainly did the job.  The cut is around a tenth of a millimeter across so incredibly accurate!

Most of the projects were cut in 3.6mm plywood.  Two were cut in plastic — one in opaque black and one in clear.  They'll look amazing when put together.

Fri 16 Nov

Fri 2 Nov

In working through the basics principles of speaker design we have discussed the design mantra "function over form" — meaning 'what it does is more important than what it looks like'.  It was easy for all of the makers to understand that if it looks amazing but sounds rubbish; it's rubbish.

Fri 21 Sep 12

Fri 14 Sep 12

It's great when everyone gets into a project.  Questions come thick and fast.  Initiative gets exercised.
The Stereo Amplifier project has been enthusiastically received.  The Friday crew were tasked with completing the 'sample build' that had been worked on by the other two teams.  Unfortunately we only got to within a couple of minutes of completion at which point we'd have heard what it sounds like for the first time.

I've since completed the last few solder joints and can happily confirm that it works and makes good sounds.  The next step will be to demonstrate how the speakers produce such radically differing volumes and effects when supported and contained.  It'll get everyone thinking about phase two - the enclosure.

All of our kits have now arrived so this coming week we'll all start our own projects.  Can't wait!