This week, the team focused on procurement of all parts needed for the first prototype of the machine. Orders were placed for the individual components, and quotes were placed for the custom PCB to decide on a vendor based on cost and delivery lead time. The main risk at the moment is any parts having an unexpectedly extended lead time, which could lead to a problem if any of those parts break or are not compatible with our design and we need to re-order. To mitigate this, the team is planning on closely checking on the arrival of all parts leading up to spring break and using the time to start testing individual components.
One of the changes to our design this week was removing high-voltage AC circuitry from the custom PCB and instead distributing it through an AC power strip. This was decided because it is a much safer and cheaper alternative, and allows us to focus the PCB on adding features to the machine.
Other than the PCB, we are currently waiting on parts to arrive to get to the next steps in the design. Many of the parts do not have exact measurements published thus we must wait for them to arrive to take measurements ourselves. Since most of them were ordered through amazon prime we should receive them this upcoming week which will allow us to get started making progress on the CAD and other components of the electrical design.
Schedule is currently on track.