Tag Archives: Maker

Projects

Putting Hinges, Lid on the Glockenspiel

Since fixing the sound of the chimes, I’ve been finishing the software for the glockenspiel. Now all the buttons work: on/off, play/pause, skip back, skip forward, and shuffle. Woohoo!

Today I made the lid, attached the molding on the edges of the lid, attached the piano hinge and attached the side hinges. It’s not fine furniture, but I’m learning a lot about how to make The Real Thing. For example, don’t sand the wood with the sandpaper you used to remove rust from your new scrollsaw (ouch!).

All the hardware (except the front latch and the feet, which should install easity) is now installed. So now I’ve taken all the hardware off so I can easily do the labels and spray the finish.

Next I plan to label the buttons – I plan to try woodburning – the end is in sight!

Projects

Silicone Pads Make a Lovely Sound

Now that the control buttons are in the circuit, I’ve tamed the clanking noise of the Robotic Glockenspiel! Hear it in this YouTube video.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I’d used a tube of silicone to put a drop of silicone on each solenoid, to reduce the loud ‘clank’ when the solenoid strikes the chime. I found out that a drop of silicone is way too much: the chimes hardly sounded at all.

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Tips

Design Thinking Via the Robotic Glockenspiel Project

Now that the glockenspiel is working and in a case, this post is about what I’ve learned about Design Thinking through my Robotic Glockenspiel project.

Caveat: since I didn’t apply formal Design Thinking to the project, I’m going to be shamelessly revisionistic in order to talk about how the project would have been better via Design Thinking.

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Woodworking

Gluing the Glockenspiel Box

Now that the glockenspiel plays a number of Christmas carols, it’s time to put it in a box.

After a pile of routing I’m now nailing and gluing the Robotic Glockenspiel box together. Since this is a first prototype (the flat chime harp is too large to be practical), I’ve made the box sides from 3/4″ x 6″ “white wood” (fir or pine) instead of hardwoods, and made no attempt to conceal the nails.

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