This week I began the assembly of my final project. The failure in this process involved the backboard for the project. The idea was to adhere a sheet of steel to a sheet of polycarbonate plastic to create a nice surface for magnets. The first issue was with my method for adhering the two sheets. I used a bead of epoxy around the edges leaving the middle open. The glue from this very visible through the polycarbonate. This problem, however, is solved by the existence on another problem regarding the backboard. The other issue is that the magnets are not strong enough to stick to the board through the polycarbonate sheet. My solution to these issues will be to use the side with the exposed steel. This allows the magnets to attach much more securely to the board. The polycarbonate sheet gives the board rigidity so I will leave it attached. The next step to fixing this problem is to make the board look nicer, currently I am thinking of using some sort of frame (possible an old picture frame).

Another component I worked on are the laser modules. I made all four of them over the weekend. The include a laser which is attached to a plywood block with a pipe strap. The magnet is embedded in the bottom of the plywood. These came out pretty good, however, there are some issues with the magnets not being perfectly flat leading to slight wobble of the laser modules. I will likely try to fix this, however, the magnets were embedded with epoxy so it will be very difficult to adjust them.

Additionally, I have received all of the prisms I ordered for this project. Once I opened them an unforeseen issue was revealed. The issue with them is that they have different thicknesses and they need to be tall enough to reach the level of the lasers on top on the plywood. My solution to this will be to attach plywood to the bottoms of each prism, raising their height off the board.

Lastly, I will need to create something to hide the wires for the lasers because they are a mess. I will most likely make a plywood box to enclose them and attach it to the bottom of the board. This can also be used as a tray for dry ice to be able to see the lasers.