We didn’t hit any major new roadblocks this week. We spent a good chunk of time doing some preliminary testing on our 3D-printed clamp design, and the results were actually pretty encouraging. It feels sturdy enough to handle what we need. The biggest “problem” continues to be the overall mechanical fit. Now that we have the physical components, it’s clear that a lot of the parts we ordered don’t work great together. We also lost some testing time this week because we were missing a microSD card for the Pi, which kept us from really diving into the display and sensor integration.
Because the mechanical side is more complex than we originally thought, we’re making some adjustments to the chassis. We also realized the current mechanical connectors weren’t going to work, so we’ve ordered some new clamps and connectors to replace them. Moving forward, our plan is to pivot toward 3D printing a lot more of our own custom components rather than forcing the original parts to work. It’s a bit of a shift, but it’s the best way to make sure everything actually fits together securely.