Week 9 - Prototype Testing (ignition mech)

Today's excitement came in the form of a brainwave for the gas release mechanism. Initially we had been discussing the use of a solenoid for each of the 20 lighters to achieve the desired output from the interface. I think I now have a couple of ways of working around this. Each involves a mechanical switch however they only require a single 360 degree servo motor.

Leading up to this concept wer a number of ideas that centred around a series of levers and cords that ultimately could not work. Here are a few initial sketches:

 

So I switched the idea of a lever with a wedge to depress the gas release lever. A wedge could be wedged between the top plate and the lever to release the gas however removing the wedge to extinguish the flame was the difficulty. This is what I came up with:

Initial diagramatic sketch of gas release mechanism

The sketch on the top page is my documentation of the idea. It's clear in my head however I think only a prototype will show how it works clearly enough for anyone else to understand. This concept seems promising however I thought I'd come up with an even better idea. The switch mechanism on a ball point pen is a linear push to turn on-push to turn of mechanism. By using the linear motion to drive a wedge onto the gas release lever I was hoping that the servo could activate and deactivate each switch in sequence around the circle. Anyway... more pictures to demonstrate the progress that I made:

The work station

Dismantling the ballpoint pen to retrieve the central mechanism

Replacing the ink reservior with a wooden skewer for rigidity

Reassembling the mechanism

The ballpoint pen reduced to a simple linear switch (off position)

The ballpoint pen reduced to a simple linear switch (on position)

The linear switch in the off position mounted on a bracket to activate the gas release lever

The linear switch in the on position mounted on a bracket to activate the gas release lever

Unsuspecting lighter awaiting their fate (hopefully not impending doom!)

Lighter ungergoing testing... unfortunately the mechanism isn't strong or rigid enough to depress the lever consistently.

Unfortunately this mechanism hasn't worked this time round. For a proof of concept model I'm not sure we'll have the capabilities to successfully manufacture/hack a small enough and strong enough mechanism for the job.

Next is to revert to the initial brainwave idea with the mechanical wedge switch from the original sketch.

Initial diagramatic sketch of gas release mechanism

As mentioned at the beginning of this post I will need to prototype the mechanism and video it in operation or take progressive photos to demonstrate the idea. Watch this space!