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DesignSpark will be turning 10 this July. To celebrate we have enlisted Jude Pullen to work on a special project to mark this landmark birthday. Jude will provide regular updates via this Vlog as he works through from concept to final product.

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Project Introduction:

Jude introduces the project brief and his initial thought process.

Ideas and Concepts:

Jude talks us through some of his initial ideas and concepts to meet the brief set by DesignSpark for the 10th birthday celebration project. They include everything from build-a-bear to world records.

The RadioGlobe Concept: 

Jude explains the concept of a RadioGlobe that can play radio stations from around the world.

Developing the RadioGlobe Design:

Jude explains the next steps for the radio globe idea, including the rotary encoder that will be the brains of the project and the plan for the mechanism.

Tuesday 19th May: Early Prototyping

Jude explains the importance of early prototyping, using speed modelling. This involves prototyping with materials such as cardboard, which can often enable you to get major design concepts right in the same time that it would take to 3D print some small parts.

Friday 22nd May: Balance between Speed and Accuracy

Jude explains the importance of getting the balance between speed and accuracy right in 3D printing. He is making good progress, but the side dial is a key thing to get right early on as it dictates a lot of the build.

Tuesday 26th May: Experience of the Ring Viewfinder UX

Jude talks through the general set-up, however, has noticed a UX problem, caused by the standard angle of the globe. There is a clear ‘Northern Hemisphere Bias’. Whilst this may be normal on a standard globe, it makes scanning over New Zealand, Cape Horn, and especially Antarctica somewhat difficult.

Tuesday 26th May: 3D Printing the Clutch Mechanism

Jude talks through his design of a clutch mechanism for the design, which has been 3D printed.

Wednesday 27th May: Checking the screen layout with the general assembly

Jude goes through the process of fitting the screen alongside the globe at the best possible angle ahead of integration.

Wednesday 27th May: Rotary Encoder set-up in Longitude and Latitude

Jude has been figuring out the best assembly for the rotary encoder (the brains of the project) to detect longitude and latitude on the globe.

Wednesday 27th May: Project Box Tips

Jude provides some tips around using a Project Box to stay organised when working.

Thursday 28th May: Mashup of Card and CAD

Jude talks through the benefits of mixing up the design process using both CAD and cardboard prototyping. Today he is showing us the enclosure layout for the screen, controls and Raspberry Pi.

Friday 29th May: Working on Cables

Jude has been working on the cabling for the project today, while Don is working on the coding.

Monday 1st June: Screen Update 

Jude talks through updating the slim LCD display within the project to a larger model, due to the original product being discontinued.

Monday 1st June: Computer Science/Philosophy with Alan Kay

Jude has been listening to Alan Kay, a computer scientist/philosopher, and explains why his ideology has really resonated during this project.

Tuesday 2nd June: Pi Screen and 3D Printer Calibration

Jude talks through the work he has been doing to get the Raspberry Pi and screen work and the importance of calibrating the 3D printer correctly.

Wednesday 3rd June: Ultra Lightweight Base

Jude discusses the latest version of the base on the prototype and has used an unexpected material to create the crosshairs target.

Thursday 4th June: A shift in perspective

Jude explains why a rotation of 5 degrees matters to this project beyond simply design and helps to shift the whole perspective of the world as we know it.

Friday 5th June: Using SSH to control the Raspberry Pi

Jude was worried about having to plug in a mouse and keyboard and mouse to the Raspberry Pi every time something needed changing. Thankfully Don has helped him to find a much more practical solution.

Friday 5th June: Living The Dream

Jude is living the dream, running two 3D printers at once! He explains the difference between the two printers and why he is using both.

Saturday 6th June: First Pass on the Electronics

Jude has been working on looming the rotary encoders, however not everything has being going smoothly. Find out why.

Saturday 6th June: Six Hours Later...

After hours of trying (and now very tired), Jude provides us with an update on wiring up the rotary encoders to the Raspberry Pi.

Saturday 6th June: Wiring Done 

The wiring is complete! Jude shows the final wiring that he has spent a day working on.

Sunday 7th June: First Test

It's time for Jude to test the set-up so far to ensure that everything is working as expected.

Monday 8th June: Trials and Tribulations

It's been one of those days for Jude. Has being tidy cost him an entire day's work?

Tuesday 9th June: Back On Track

Good news! After snipping through some of the solder tracks and learning a valuable lesson yesterday, Jude has everything back working again today and is making progress. He's now onto build 4 of the RadioGlobe.

Tuesday 9th June: Progress Update

After a day of progress Jude shows us the mounted Raspberry Pi and wiring, alongside the general build so far.

Tuesday 10th June: It's Alive!

The RadioGlobe is alive! Jude explains where he's got to in the latest update of the project.

Tuesday 10th June: A Cry For Help!

After some great progress, Jude has encountered an issue that is stopping the audio from being played through anything other than the HDMI output.

Wednesday 11th June: Rasperry Pi 4 Audio Debugging

After 3 hours of tweaks and coding, Jude is finally making progress on the audio issues that he had encountered with the Raspberry Pi 4.

Tuesday 16th June: Circuit Layout

Jude talks through the circuit layout for the RadioGlobe Project.

Wednesday 17th June: Zoom Call with Don

Jude and Don meet over Zoom to test the RadioGlobe functionality so far. Can they tune in to any radio stations from around the world?

Wednesday 17th June: Making it all fit together

Jude has been working through the fit of the parts. This has included designing for the limitations of the 3D printed rather than absolute CAD dimensions and fitting a lot of brass inserts.

Thursday 18th June: Can I get a witness?

Jude has had one of those days... in the pursuit of perfection! He's working through the tricky details to get the aesthetics right using a 3D printer.

Friday 19th June: It's big printing time!

It's Friday and Jude has spent most of the day 3D printing. See how he has managed to add accents of colours on the RadioGlobe.

Saturday 20th June: The Graveyard

Jude shows us the "graveyard" of cardboard and 3D printed parts that have collected in his workshop since starting the RadioGlobe project. But isn't all of that wasted plastic bad for the environment?

Saturday 20th June: Radio Station Bugs

During testing Jude and Don have uncovered a very strange programming bug when scanning across Kenya.

Saturday 20th June: It works!

After spending the day debugging and reuploading code with Don, Jude now has the user interface working. He's also added a cool new feature. Awesome!

Sunday 28th June: It's all coming together

Jude has a big smile on his face as he shows off the 2 RadioGlobe's he is producing and how well they're progressing. Find out why it is helpful to have 2 versions when creating a step-by-step guide. It's all coming together, amazing!

Tuesday 7th July: The PCB's have arrived

Jude has received the PCB's, which were designed using our free DesignSpark PCB software and produced by Mint-Tek.

Wednesday 8th July: PCB's and Business Strategies

Jude has now wired the PCB's in and has introduced a simple "night mode" using the screen's backlight. He also discusses how open source can help with the development of a product and the many possibilities that exist due to this approach.

Wednesday 8th July: Done, done and done

It's finished! The RadioGlobe project is complete. Well done Jude, Don, and the extended DesignSpark community.

Thursday 9th July: How Rotary Encoders Work

Jude explains how important rotary encoders have been to bringing the RadioGlobe to life. Find out what a rotary encoder is and how it has made the entire project possible.

Thursday 9th July: CAD Discussion

Jude takes a look back at the considerations when using CAD to design the RadioGlobe project. You can download DesignSpark Mechanical for free by Clicking Here.

A huge thank you to Jude and all of the members of the DesignSpark community who assisted with this project. A full step-by-step guide and all supporting materials will be available from 27th July 2020. 

You can follow Jude's Vlog on this page or on YouTube by Clicking Here

You can follow more of Jude's work at: https://www.youtube.com/judepullen and http://www.judepullen.com/

RS DesignSpark is the go-to platform for students, makers, hobbyists and professional design engineers, providing design resources such as the award winning DesignSpark PCB and DesignSpark Mechanical CAD software. Join the community today at https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/register
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