busy day in spray booth...

I have been in the spray booth since 11am trying to obtain a nice smooth finish on the main body of my USB. It feels smooth but there are still ridges and dots, which don't seem to be budging. The cap has quite a nice finish on it though.

So far, I have put 1 coat of plastic primer on and 3 coats of pressure pot primer on. I have left that to dry over the weekend now. On Monday, I will decide whether to put another coat of primer on or whether to proceed with the main top coat.  The final colours I had decided on are red and gold, to give it a really classic and luxurious look.

(You can see in the image below, how effective the colours are together)

I was thinking of sprinkling some gold glitter into the paint so it sprays it out onto the main body with gold glittery paint....but Tim says I can't do that, as it will clog up the gun!!

However, I can sprinkle some glitter on once it's been sprayed, which I will think about.

Going to work on my packaging net on the weekend, feel slightly worried that I haven't organised this yet but I'm hoping I can achieve a final design by Sunday.

Sanding....and more sanding.....and maybe tomorrow more sanding.....

I've been in the workshops, sanding my USB model down. I seem to have a lot of ridges and the thin layers, which have been RP'd are quite visible.
Also, as my model is very circular and spherical, it makes it very hard to sand it accurately. I have gone through all the 'Wet and Dry' papers and it looks quite smooth now. I had to sand the lid and main body seperately, which took a bit of time.

Looking at it closely, there are a few ridges still left but I don't want to sand it down too much, as I will ruin the shape.

One slight problem- the lid is now slightly loose, as I had to sand the connecting part to the lipstick (the part which fits into the lid); as it's part of the main body. I'm hoping that once I've sprayed it all up, there will be a thick layer of paint on the model surface, which will allow the lid to fit back on tightly.

Tomorrow I will be ready to spray plastic primer on and then base coats of the pressure pot primer (pre-mixed), more sanding and finally start working towards the quality finish of the product.

I knew this would happen.....

Manufacturing stage has begun and already I have hit a few obstacles. My USB model parts came out of the Rapid Prototyping machine today and they looked great (from afar). But when I placed my circuit down in the recess - I realised there was a big error.

The 12mm I had measured to ensure the metal chassis was sticking out, had somehow reversed. Basically, I ended up have 12mm internally and only a little bit sticking out for the metal part! This is what I was trying to prevent and I'm not quite sure how it has happened but I will go back to Creo and have a look over the next few days. For now, I want to focus on obtaining the final USB model as time is running out!!

I have made some manual adjustments now, to ensure the circuit fits. I really wish I had designed some locating pegs or some sloting holes on the main body. I have glued the 2 halves together and I have decided to sand it down as 1 whole object; to keep it symmetrical and even.

So it's glued together now, tomorrow I can continue working on the finish and making it smooth. Need to design my packaging net aswell in the next day or two. I want to make sure the packaging compliments the USB design and is relevant to my product; so Im having a bit of a think.

Busy day.....but productive!

I've converted all the parts into STL files and I've taken my design down to the workshop for it to be manufactured. It will be Rapid Prototyped. So, tomorrow hopefully I can see how it has translated into a solid model. I hope it all fits, as I have spent quite a bit of time on dimensions and altering my design on creo carefully.  

I'm thinking of hand painting my model, as it's so small and will be fiddly for spray painting. Still thinking about ideas for my packaging, will discuss this with John tomorrow in our 1-1 tutorial.

Slowly coming together now.....

Feeling slightly happier now that my USB design is developing on Creo. Just been checking all dimensions and created new assembly to check my circuit board fits into both recess' on both halves. Adding colour on creo adds realism. Just at uni, working with some of my SKE peers in Sheaf computer room

Circuit positioning, dimensions, Cap fitting!!!

Spent a good few hours today at uni translating my USB design onto Creo. Struggling with the software to be honest, but had a good stab at it today with some help from John. Sometimes, it doesn't want to seem to play ball, then you press one button and it's all working again!
I've been focusing a lot of today on thinking about circuit positioning/ mounting and dimensions etc. I started off creating 1 solid model but then realised it's better to slice it into two halves, in order to create the recess for the PCB on both sides.

Time is ticking fast....but im hoping to have my final design refined, for manufacture over the next 2 days.

What will I do for the packaging? hhhmmmm........

I've also had my thinking cap on today, on ideas for my packaging! I will research into this further over the next few days. My initial thoughts are to package the USB lipstick, in a standard lipstick box (see below). This is because its small and compact and will be easy to distribute, as a freebie. I am going to look into some other ideas for creative packaging and using the laser cutter, as the main method of manufacture.