So, over the past month I have been making prototypes for my project, the sender and receiver devices. I didn't have too much of a design concept for my idea before the university closed so began making the mk II prototypes at home. I had some materials around my flat and had picked up some materials before the social distancing measures where put in place, since I only had access to what was on hand I had to have a good think about what I could achieve with what I had.
Before working from home I decided that the form of the sender would be similar to a 'eyedropper' tool. I explored different appearances of the tool and decided I'd go down the simpler route, rather than using the form typically used in science experiments. Using this simple symbol as a form, I brainstormed how I could make it, what materials could I use?
I settled on using some birch for the base, with fabric sides since it is curved and an acrylic top. Cutting the base and top was a bit of an issue, since they are both curved I had to cut as rough a shape is possible and sand until it was the right shape. Ideally I would have used a laser cutter for the acrylic and would have used the workshop to help with the base. For the sides I used card wrapped in fabric, this gave them more structure. I would have liked to have used something else such as plastic netting (the kind used in embroidery) since it is more solid and would have been ideal for removing sections for the sensor. I experimented with using a 3D pen to create the sides and also tried craft foam but felt that card was my best option for my current situation.
