Day Three

Our third day saw us meeting up at IKEA, where we were set a brief to find a chair for £10 or less, and a small object for £2.50 or less.

In teams of three we set out to find our items, which would be the focal point of our mainly designing sessions over the coming weeks.

The chair my group selected was the TÄRNÖ. 

Our small item cost just £2, and is the JANSJÖ. It's a fully flexible USB light. 

So far we have simply measured the items in as much detail as possible, ready to complete tasks set in the next few weeks.

The afternoon session focused on the electronics side of Systems and Control. We began by inputting our simple circuit created in day 2 onto Circuit Wizard, a popular computer software often used in schools. Once we had mastered the basics we created a dark sensing circuit and tested it through the software. Once this was complete we imported it as a PCB board, printed it onto acetate, and cut our plastic board. 

Once the board had been treated to UV light (with the acetate attached) and put in a bath of developer (no acetate). The PCB then went into an acid bath. 

This treatment process removes unwanted cooper, but leaves the copper tracks needed to complete the circuit. After getting rid of any rust with wire wool, we drilled holes in the board and dry fitted the components  before soldering them in place.