Week 5 Blog

 

Monday 24JUN2024:

The focus on Monday was cutting out the last of the pieces using the water jet cutter, followed by attempting to etch grooves into one of the types of pieces using a class 4 laser. It was a lot of trial and error, and further testing would need to be done.

Tuesday 25JUN2024:

Tuesday was a continuation of what was done on Monday. A bit more progress was made, but more testing needed to be done. The piece I had etched was slightly bent and would not hold all of the wires at the same pressure.

Wednesday 26JUN2024:

Wednesday was also a continuation of the previous two days, with my mentor suggesting an idea to increase the size of the grooves. This did seem to work, and I went to test the wire holding capabilities of the piece. However, my hands were not steady enough to reliably insert the wires into the holder piece. I didn’t want to mess up any of the good wires we had made previously, so I talked with Romain and was given another task in the meanwhile. I was to make some pieces in the water jet cutter to end the day.

Thursday 27JUN2024:

I had attempted to try inserting the wires into the piece again but, while I was able to get more done than the previous day, I was still unable to keep my hands steady. So, I was given the task of designing an LED circuit. I was rusty on my knowledge, so I had to relearn a few things and would have to continue working on it tomorrow. I was also given the go-ahead to take some time the next day to get coffee with my co-mentor Douglas again.

Friday 28JUN2024:

On Friday, I started by helping during a lab wide cleaning before going to meet with Douglas. We had to go to the dandelion café because the coffee house was closed. We talked and he showed me the lab he was working in. Afterwards, I went back to the BRC and cut some more tungsten wires with the laser cutter. It took me the rest of the day to do so. There are concerns that I may be overworking myself, so I am going to be reflecting on that for the time being.

[End of post for Week 5]