Manufacture

I set up my designs in pro engineer to work on the CNC router. However, as luck would have it there were technical issues with the machines and it was looking unlikely that I would get on. With the deadline looming, I went with an alternative route. I have now sliced my design into 82 3mm slices of plywood using the laser cutter. A longer process but it meant I could get on with the work and start gluing my pieces together.

After hours and hours of gluing, I now have my final shape. I'm going to have to use some filler to get the smooth curves into my design as using the laser cutter has meant that these curves are currently made up out of a series of straight ridges. 

CAD

In Pro Engineer I've been able to model and alter my design. Starting with a basic cone shape I could add on other extrusions and shapes. Pro Engineer isn't easy but it is satisfying to see the model develop on screen. What was a sketch and a card model, is now starting to look more professional and realistic. 

Pro engineer has also helped me to test out the components against the dimensions I have given to my model through the assembly function. Hopefully this means that everything will fit in properly when I make it using CAM. 

Developing ideas

 

I have developed the curved nose design further so that the speaker is at the back. This allows for more space behind the speaker for better sound whilst providing a good space for the other components. I think I am going to use a gloss white and vibrant orange as my contrasting colours following the design of one of the trains from my initial research.

I have used my sketches to make a model out of card. Although it looks a bit scrappy it has been really helpful for me to visualise my idea in 3D and test that the components will all fit in place. Luckily, they do! 

Sketches

These are the ideas I have generated from my research. I am mostly inspired by the final idea with the curved nose shape and solid body. I would use wood for my main material as it is dense and will produce a better sound for my MP3 speaker.

Research and Specification

From the above research I have come up with the following specification.

Specification

Bold contrasting colours

Clean simple curves

Small, compact and portable

Hard wearing, made from durable material

Space within speaker to help amplify sound

Provide access to the battery

The Brief

Pump up the volume

‘MP3 players are very popular and are ideally suited for individual listening. Sometimes however it is useful to amplify sound so that the device can be listened to without the restriction of headphones or a small group of people can listen to it together.’

The above is a typical context taken from a GCSE Short Course specification. Your task is to design and manufacture a prototype product in response to this context that incorporates the given amplifier circuit. CAD/CAM is to be used extensively in the development of your prototype. This will be a corporate 'freebie' used to promote a high speed commuter rail network.