Before we could work on the other components, the dimensions and design of the acrylic box had to be finalised first because everything else was based off this box. For example, the inner 3D printed box skeleton had to fit within the outer acrylic box, and this would then constrain the dimensions of the individual key pieces and consequently affect how the electronic components are assembled. Furthermore, most commercial options were either a fixed dimension or required a long lead-time for custom made boxes.

Weeks 1-3

Component: Acrylic Box

Idea: For the design of the box, we wanted an inner acrylic box which the piezo sensors would be stuck on, followed by an outer acrylic box to house the inner acrylic box. To do so, small acrylic pieces would have to be cut out from the inner acrylic box, leaving holes in the box for the piezo sensors to occupy.

Did it work out? Not really. We lacked resources at hand to do the cutting on our own, hence we contacted external suppliers for the purchase of the box. They either cited too high a cost or too long a lead time, hampering the progress of our project.

In the end … we sourced for other alternatives. We found a pre-made box in Art Friend that had similar dimensions and altered our measurements for the inner box around that. Due to the costliness of cutting the acrylic box, we decided on 3D printing the inner box instead.

Weeks 6-7

Component: Inner Box

Idea: We wanted to 3D print the entire inner box as a whole. However, the printing process was too long and the end product might be too fragile due to difficulty in implementing support for the 3D printing of the box. As such, we printed the box in parts. We first printed each surface of the box before printing corner brackets which would hold the box together. Then, we assembled the box as a whole.

Did it work out? Due to imperfections in the 3D printing, some surfaces of the box differed by 1-2 mm in length and this affected the assembly of the box. We hence had to reprint some of the corner brackets to make allowance for these errors as well as sand down the parts so that they fit together.

In the end … we were able to fit the entire box together.

Final Product

The following is a schematic and actual top view of our put together box.

Additionally, we have attached translucent black acrylic sheets to cover up the circuitry on each face of the box as well as make the whole set-up more presentable.