Author: sxm210236

This month’s focus was on finally pushing out our final prototype and making sure that the necessary parts were modeled correctly. By the end of April we were able to succeed in our goal of finishing the CAD models for our prototype. Now as we rap up this semester’s efforts, we have spent the majority of this month on tweaking measurements as well as finishing testing out the locking mechanism. We have also altered our final model to be primarily made for a small classical guitar which MyPossibilities have provided for us. All that’s left for this prototype is to consolidate the wiring of the electrical parts as well as making sure that the motor fits securely onto the adapter and not chip away any of the surrounding materials.

The primary goals for next semester is to finish testing our prototype and making any necessary design adjustments accordingly to further reduce any bulk. Another major goal is to make our design extensible for multiple guitars, allowing for varied methods of playing. We realized at the end of this semester that there are many possibilities for the capo mechanism to be improved so that is also one of the focuses for next semester.

The goal for this month is to continue the CAD modeling process for our design. Due to specific design constraints as well as time constraints, we decided to design our Guitar Adapter to be tailor made for one specific guitar. The guitar being a classical guitar which was given to us by MyPossibilities to use as a reference for the adapter. The CAD model for the guitar is nearly finished, and now part of the team has moved onto figuring out how to implement the wiring and cable management onto the neck of the guitar, while the other part of the team is focusing on fleshing out the clamping mechanism. The mechanism itself (shown in the first picture below) is a good baseline, but is having fitting issues due to the measurements not being accurate enough.

The goal for this month is to finish up the remaining portions of CAD modeling and begin printing out the final design to be fitted with the electronic components of the design.

This month’s focus was on taking the new design we created last month and finding a practical way into implementing it. Through discussing with MyPossibilities, we decided on implementing our design as an EXTENSION of the already existing prototype model. We decided to go with this major design decision due to time constraints as well as the fact that the general idea of having something grip onto the neck was something that worked. Our major design focus from now on is focusing on attaching the existing adapter firmly onto the body of the guitar.

As Spring break starts, our goal is to start dividing up the roles for the CAD Design and work through getting a mini prototype of the clamping mechanism for the body before we go ahead and 3D print the entirety of the model. The goal is to have a completed base modeled as well as have a finished 3D model of the clamping mechanism to send in for 3D printing. By the time the 3D printed model comes in, the goal is to fix any inherent issues in our design and have enough time to be able to print one more prototype clamping mechanism. From there, the goal until the end of the semester is to get the final prototype completed.

This month was focused on improving upon the stability of last semester’s design. Specifically, the issue we had to work on fixing was distributing the weight of the adaptor from the neck of the guitar to the rest of its body. We spent time going through multiple different renditions of a full body attachment for the existing adaptor and came up with a cardboard prototype (Fig 1). We plan on utilizing clamps (similar to the ones found in phone holders) in order to fasten the adaptor to the body of the guitar.

We spent time reworking our project plan as well as finalizing our Gantt Chart (Fig 2) for the rest of the semester. Our next step is to work on our design presentation and finalize our design concept. We will also start the creation of the improved CAD model for the adaptor and begin testing different clamping mechanisms to ensure that the new adaptor stays in place.