Everything Working – Sofia de Oliveira

I started off this week with another setback. The corner pieces that I ordered arrived, however, they were not the right ones. They were for 1 ¼” pipes and not 1 ½” pipes like the ones I’m using. I am being sent new ones that should be arriving later today.

This week I really focused on coming up with a very solid plan and beginning to put that plan into action to make sure that I know everything will work. I modeled the pegboard and the LED lights that I’m using in SolidWorks. I made an assembly with the framework of my project. Using the modeled pegboard as a reference for where each of the LEDs is able to go, I modeled the wave and the trashcan as I wanted them to be in the final design. There are some overlapping LEDs, some large spaces, and the images are much simpler than I had originally anticipated, but I’m happy with the designs I have. I anticipate the glow of the LEDs all together will fill some of the gaps. Once the design was created, I used SolidWorks to measure from the top how far down each of the LEDs needs to be in order to make sure the image is created well. I also denoted which of the pegboard holes will be used to hang the LEDs from in order to make the images.

Image of the trashcan modeled in SolidWorks.
Image of the wave modeled in SolidWorks.

Next, I started working with the LEDs. I don’t have lots of experience working with them, so I wanted to practice soldering the wires together. I had a power supply from fairy lights in my room that I used to supply three LEDs connected in parallel. Once this was completed, I knew how to solder the LEDs for the actual design together and began working on that. I have some wire that I will use to extend the LEDs to make sure they will all be able to be placed where needed. Once all the LEDs are wired up, the last step will be to determine how best to hide all the wires from sight in order to make the design look the sleekest. As of right now, I will be drilling holes into the PVC pipe to run the wire through there, however, that will be the last step of my project.

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