• Done!

    Padfoot • 04/25/2022 at 04:25 • 0 comments

    Assembly finally complete. I added a wooden pole in the middle to act as a support for the 3D prints. I also layered the insides of the transparent blade with parchment paper to help diffuse the LED light better. Mosly held together with hot glue.

    Overall, I'm not disappointed in the final product but I definitely think I can do better (especially with imperfections in the assembly due to too tight tolerances or hot glue not holding, etc) . But considering this is the first project I've taken on on this large of a scale, I'm still pretty happy with it.

  • Part printed and painted

    Padfoot • 04/23/2022 at 23:47 • 0 comments

    Painting complete! Took about 5 hours for paint prep (mainly adding tape to edges....which didn't work great since the tape is old and the edge isn't that nice so it bled a bit but still not horrible) and 4 hours to paint.

  • CAD complete

    Padfoot • 04/21/2022 at 18:57 • 0 comments

    The CAD has finally been completed! A bit jank but should work. 

    A few small features of note:

     - Batteries are contained in the hilt (left one side transparent so it is visible)

     - Switches (not shown) have cutouts ready in the hilt piece as well (length that connects handle to where battery is held)

     - Internal cutouts allow wiring (though a decent amount of it is useless now since I won't need to run wires to the non-existent electromagnets anymore)

    Have been 3d printing them while the CAD was still being finalized so the last two parts should be done printing tomorrow! Then it's on to painting

  • Unfortunate news...

    Padfoot • 04/20/2022 at 23:13 • 0 comments

    So I recently worked on building the electromagnets for the sword when I realized I was using electromagnet strength calculator I found incorrectly. In fact, the calculator doesn't calculate the values I was looking for (so my original prototype calculations was likely just a fluke). So after creating the electromagnet to test it anyways (made up of roughly 1/3-1/2 of the 323 ft spool of magnet wire I bought, approximately 800-1100ish turns), I hooked it up to a 9v battery...and watched as it wasn't able to even support its own weight. I tried it with a fresh battery, a chain of C batteries, even a power bank but I simply didn't have batteries capable of putting out enough amp output to give the relatively small electromagnet enough strength to even hold itself. 

    What this basically means is...the electromagnet part of the sword is out the window. As much as it sucks (especially the amount of time I've put into this project), the sword will be unable to stick onto my back using electromagnets. I'll complete the project with the LEDs and I'll still have a pretty cool sword to show for it but it won't be anything like I imagined originally :(

  • Prototype (Lights) V1

    Padfoot • 04/15/2022 at 00:39 • 0 comments

    (Late update but still)
    Finished the prototype of the LED lit blade! Also functioned as a test for transparent PLA filament.

     - Found that light was too bright on each individual LED when I wanted light to be more dispersed. So! I thought to wrap the inside of the print with parchment paper to help diffuse the light better. Not perfect but looks a lot nicer

    Picture attached (right side is with parchment paper and left is no parchment paper)

  • CAD (Sorta) Complete

    Padfoot • 04/12/2022 at 03:58 • 0 comments

    Finished the CAD for the sword! Still need to dissect it for actually feasible 3d-printing and assembly though. I'll likely create a section of the blade to be printed first just to see how the transparent filament works and if it diffuses the LEDs enough. Hopefully I'll be able to get a prototype of the blade done by tomorrow!

  • Prototype V1 + V2

    Padfoot • 04/01/2022 at 05:54 • 0 comments

    Prototypes V1 and V2 complete!

    V1:

     - Created to show that I knew how to use magnet wire and basic wiring (just a 9v battery and alligator clips)

           - Learned that alligator clips clamped with the wire parallel to the clip wire...not horizontal/perpendicular...oops...

    - Worked and was able to pick up a single paper clip just barely

    V2:

    - Created as a further proof of concept

    - Used a zinc screw instead of the drywall nail from before (to see if it works too) but ran into a problem with the threads preventing the magnet wire from making contact with each other so I covered the threaded portion with electrical tape to create a smooth surface to coil the magnet wire onto, seems to work fine still!

    - Used a magnet strength calculator (Solenoid (Electromagnet) Force Calculator (daycounter.com)) to see which variable is which (ie how to manipulate it) and to see if the calculator was accurate - turns out its about accurate! Magnet strength was predicted to be about 3g and it was capable of lifting a paper clip and the V1 prototype which should be roughly 3g

           - I'll need to use the calculator later to figure out the approximate size of the electromagnet I need to actually hold up the final design

    All in all, I learned a lot from these two prototypes!