Documenting the work I did yesterday. There was still a lot to do. I made these pieces with grooves in them as the basis for the frame, so I could discreetly hold the electronics. This was way harder than it sounded.
I had to finish the frame, cut out the cat parts, build the electronics and write the code for the Arduino. I started putting the frame together, which was really hard. I was using the wrong frame clamp. When I tried the other one it was a lot easier.
I made the front of the frame and then added it to the grooves to see how it looked—this is before clamping the frame.
Then I put the electronics next to it to get the size approximate (wish I had done this better).
I had to solder this switch on to two leads. It cuts the power from the 9v batteries from everything so you can turn the whole thing off.
Then I cut a whole for the IR sensor.
Then I tested the sensor with the LED.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJS5dMX22MY’%5D
Finally, I started cutting out my cat parts with the laser cutter. I realized at this point that I had been doing things sort of out of order. I really should have finished the cat parts and tests before I designed and built the frame. I found that the cat parts needed to be way smaller than I had drawn them to get the right size shadow for the frame and lights I had.
These parts were very large. I had to make them more like this.
mobydonut 