Like I already said, last week this project consumed my life spending many many hours designing the hearts, prepping for engraving, actually engraving two, and planning for the circuit set up. Because of that I had a lot of work to catch up on from other classes preventing me from doing much more to the project, however I was able to make some progress.

This last week I worked on planning out and building the base of my build. I wanted to create something that seamlessly held my acrylic pieces and hid my electronics. I eventually ended up making the base out of Styrofoam because it was the best at being able to actually hold the acrylic without using adhesive while also being able to tunnel underneath to place the LED strips. It worked very well and is almost complete but I’m not sure if I should paint it black or keep the glow that goes through the white Styrofoam. It kind of makes the bottom of the acrylic a little fuzzy with the illumination through the Styrofoam but I also kind of like the fuzzy look.

I wasn’t able to do much more with the actual circuit part but I did go to consultation meeting with the Makerspace staff and I have ordered a 12V battery pack to be able to power the LED strips. The circuit is fully made I just need to have the power source for it (which will arrive tomorrow).

My plan is to finish the circuit part tomorrow (because that is when I get my battery pack) and meet for another consultation (probably Wednesday) to make sure everything won’t break. Then on Wednesday I will finish the engravings (I made a 3 piece simple beating heart that way if the more detailed heart is a disaster this will be a great alternative). Through the rest of the week I am planning on finishing the base of the piece and do any other touch ups.