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Molbed 2.0: improvements

A project log for MOLBED 2 Modular Low cost Braille Electro Display

An improved version of the 2016 project, aimed to develop a low cost and modular refreshable Braille system

madaeonMadaeon 09/04/2017 at 13:561 Comment


The idea of the new Molbed: Flexinol actuators instead of the magnetic actuators.

Activating the coils on Molbed 1.0 posed some problems: the "kickback" of the magnets moving was sometimes strong enough to affect nearby pins, and reducing the power was sometimes not strong enough to activate them.

To avoid this, a flexinol wire can be used; modulating current can be used to shrink its length by approx 0.5%; for each pin, two wires of approx 24mm will be used; they will provide 1mm of movement that is amplified with a lever mechanism.

Most of the parts will be 3D printed, with a high definition resin 3d printer. The pins will be probably metal 3d printed, and the base of each character will still have electonical connections, breadboard friendly.

Discussions

smok wrote 09/25/2017 at 12:03 point

Looks promising! 

Why did you choose 0.5mm dia. wire? The tech data (http://www.dynalloy.com/tech_data_wire.php) says it needs 4A current and produces 3.5kg of pull force, which feels like too much. 

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