After the initial routing for the foam cells, the group decided that we badly needed an exploration of materials. Mat and Michele were able to run to the store and find a .5 inch black plastic that seemed to fit in with what we were looking for. It was durable and it was able to resist most of the bend that we were fearing after the decision to get rid of the lone cell and form the surface into rows. We were slightly worried that .5 would be too much for the servos to turn, but it seemed to pan out in a few simple tests that the group conducted.
Routing=Nightmare
Routing is always an issue when a tight schedule is to be adhered to. First the file must be made into a file that is easily transferred into mastercam, meaning that the rhino file must be a series of curves and surfaces that are to be mapped into routing paths.
The mastercam file then needs to be set up by a worker at the fab lab, and I have tried a couple times at making my own file only to be told that it has to be changed dramatically or redone- which is to be expected without really ever having any tutorials or training. The curves can be made into various paths for the router including contours (our cutlines are contours) and pockets (where the subtraction of material occurs below the solar cell.
The correct bit must be chosen between a myriad of different bits with various numbers of flutes, and we must input this into mastercam.
The largest and final step is that the routing must go smoothly, because quite often bad things happen when routing including broken bits, rouge pieces of material moving, incorrect calibrations, and overall human and machine error.
Mat was able to route these gems before thanksgiving, allowing the group to get a good grasp on what we needed to aspire to.
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