It looks to me as if you are doing a phd on pcb actuator. At first it started as a fun little expériement but with each video. I feel like you're improving your skill in R&D. Good job man.
I have no idea what this is gonna be used for what it could be used for but I’m extremely impressed with your dedication to making the best thing you can. Cool stuff don’t stop creating.
@@warrenarnold I thought bit coin was a product of block chain tech that puts two computers in a singular computation and if both computers get the same answer, a bit coin is created?
The reason why your double sided actuator didn’t twist is because the two sides added off-axis rigidity. Because of the linear motion of your actuator, it was always going to tend to twist if it had a single pole along its axis of motion (an example of this is objects in space tending to spin). I love the methodology you used to avoid problems that otherwise would have remained elusive. These are super exciting! Any other ideas for novel actuators on your mind? (1st time watcher and subscriber)
Wonderful project evolving over time. I imagine folk who build shop window displays would love the opportunity to add gently flapping butterflies into their builds using this tech. Keep up the great work 👍😀
Hey Carl, this project sure has evolved! It's been a real treat watching your iterative process in action. Thank you for sharing, and keep up the great work!
if you add a reflective surface, maybe even something mirror-like, the flap can be used as a pov-display WITHOUT adding the led's weight to the flap. just put the leds in a black box with a narrow slit, pointed at the mirror-flap...
Have you thought of or tested using a second coil instead of the rare earth magnet? Using a square wave 90 degrees out of phase with each other so that they could take turns attracting and repelling each other? It may reduce costs and speedup replacement of failed units.
Imagine the revolution you gonna make when this will be applied to music instruments like clarinet ?????? You have really made a tremendous breakthrough .
This has a similar motion to a reed valve in a two-stroke engine. It could be a cool application or you could draw from reed design literature if you'd like to improve your design further. Great video, thank you!
Thank you for showing the steps that lead to the final thing..the failures, the changes, the smallest of things that can lead to some major improvements..
Would be interesting to see an electromagnet on the stiff side and a sensor that detects the distance so it can pull it a certain distance when it's safe to and doesn't need to physically slam up against it
Can you hang a couple of these from some string and then tune the system to constructively interfere with each other and create some larger oscillatory motion? If so that would be an interesting (though impractical) replacement for the rhythm of a clock.
You might want to start doing finite element analysis to get a better idea of your actuator's mechanical response, particularly torsional stiffness. Autodesk and FreeCAD can do it.
Can you ramp the voltage up and down to control the rate that the actuators open or close? Butterflies normally flap their wings kind of slowly and in a controlled manner -- they don't just snap them open and then shut again. Same with flower petals. If you can make things open and close at the speed you want that would be really cool.
Hey, absolutely incredible video, as always! An interesting idea might be to build some sort of mechanical relay out of this, maybe even logic gates. Could be cool if one could build a computer out of nothing but (flex-)PCB!
very neat stuff! You're running into PCB failures we usually only get to see on rare occasions after millions of units have been in the field for years. Awesome seeing people pushing this tech to its breaking point!
For future versions, have you looked into steel wires for connectors? I believe generally steel has better performance with respect to fatigue than copper
it can but it won't be very effective compare to other fans - i made a video on this topica few months ago ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rm4wyXis4Tg.html
Well I suppose your flaps have big potential as PIXELS for huge outdoor displays. With zero power consumption as well - for static images. Well done, don't stop!
If you ever get bored of this project and/or just need a new idea, *i think a cool project would be making “Open Source Haptic Actuators”* for things like Game/ VR Controllers, Interactive Art Displays / Playground Games, Sim Gear, etc. As evidenced by this series, and not only the designing experience you earned, but the reliability you are getting out of these components, i think making Imbalanced Weight (PCB?) Motor Plug and Play Modules, “Bump” based linear actuators (maybe some sort of PCB that launches a metal disk/“doughnut” (maybe just a washer?) up a few mm/cm on a pole?, etc. This could lead to really neat HID Gear, VR Controllers, and even be Incorporated into Public Art Displays for Makerfairs and whatnot! Also i have seen, at least once, some sort of playground toy with Load Cell (or Buttons, I don’t remember), speakers and lights in modules, and you would run around and hit/kick them depending on the mode (ghost hunt, ninja dojo, etc) Was a hit crazy of a project, so may even require reaching out and collaborating with someone like James Bruton etc, but that would be one HELL of a project! Either way i think doing stuff like all that, or even just more of the amazing work you have already done will be exciting to see going forward!
What a wonderful design, and an AMAZING MASTERCLASS in the design PROCESS a skilled engineer uses to iterate their project from one version to the next and how to properly test said design before going to market. Id love to have a few of these in my electronics box for projects just incase they're needed, but moneys too tight right now, so I'll just say well done sir!
So talented! Once I establish myself as a Maker I am soo going to hit you up. Your hardware and some of my ideas 💡 ... The applications are endless. Amazing work sir! Please keep sharing!
I think there are applications beyond art. The immediate use case I see is a valve. There are cases where you may want to prevent dust going between two locations, and covering a hole with a flap is one solution.
Take several of the "With hole" ones and stack them. Wire them with alternating polarities and you have a wildly useful device... Like tiny self-opening/closing curtain hangers for a tiny window, or if you put some thin, pleated fabric between each one, you can have a bellows without a piston and associated rubbing/sealing.
Hey Carl, look into the flex PCB i-beam effect. If you put traces directly over each other on the top and bottom layer, it creates more stress in the copper than if the traces were offset.
While a bit more on the art side, the stability of those two-arm actuators would probably do a good job of showing how a DLP chip works at a macro scale (just need to put some aluminium tape on the reverse to act as a lightweight mirror)
Perfect test system for light weight flexible couplings. Valves for very low air pressures. Someone somewhere is looking for this to fit an application.
Do you think it would work for moving air? Mounting on a heat sink? How much power does it use compared to a fan? Really cool little thing. I can think of so many interesting ways of using this.
To reach the best design for the arms you could use optimization algorithms that minimize the mass while also minimizing the bending natural frequency and max mises stress in the arms and maximizes the twisting natural frequencies.
During your long term durability testing it might not be a terrible idea to also do a frequency sweep. That would cover any faster wear with specific frequencies. Just an idea. I'm not even and engineer, so do what you will with that info
Another application I can think of, is automatic playing of a wind instrument like a saxophone, clarinet, oboe, etc. The way those actuators move would be perfect to close and open the holes on the windpipe of a wind instrument.
