This week I did not accomplish all the goals I set out for myself. Last week I stated that I wanted to have a full sketch of what the chassis will look like and possibly a Solidworks rendering of what I sketched. I was not able to get to the Solidworks rendering primarily because my Macbook cannot download it from the CMU software catalog, but I was running out of time this week trying to catch up on all the work I neglected to do over spring break. I was able to sketch a very rough idea of what we would like the chassis to look like. I also got some rough estimates on the dimensions of the solenoids and, using those measurements, the minimum dimensions of the chassis. My idea is to have a 3D-printed container with a wall down the middle for the solenoids to be mounted. With the solenoids mounted down the middle of the container, they will hover over the piano keys and press them when turned on. Additionally, two pipes will go through the container’s length and can be placed on the edges of the piano so that the chassis can hover over the keys.
As you can see above, this is a rough idea of what the chassis should look like. The top view shows how the solenoids will be placed in the container, with the top set of solenoids hovering over the black keys and the bottom set hovering over the white keys. Furthermore, the side view indicated roughly where the pipes will go through the container so as not to interfere with the solenoids.
This brought sketch has put me a little behind schedule since I wanted a little more detailed idea to be completed this week, but it is not the end of the world since we have so much slack time built into our schedule. Hopefully, this week I will be able to make up for lost time last week.
Some deliverables I plan to provide at the end of next week is a much more in-depth drawing of what our chassis will look like. Additionally, I would like to measure the keyboard dimensions to get a much more accurate idea of what the size of the chassis will need to be so that it fits on top of the keyboard. I also hope to get my hands on a copy of Solidworks so I can play around and figure out a good rendering to be sent to the 3D printer. I will also look into 3D printing filament that we will need to purchase to use the 3D printers in Techspark.