FUTURE BLINDNESS

first results from Dragon Skin test run

Originally uploaded by AKA MEDIA SYSTEM

This weekend I had some encouraging results with Dragon Skin, a silicone molding compound from the pricey folks at Smooth On. Luckily, the silicone we had left over from PS04 was still usable, and it was much easier than I remembered. Some photos of the prototypes are available here.

What I’ll now need to figure out is exactly how to shape the nitinol I’ll be embedding, and how to ensure an electrical connection will always be made regardless of the bend-state of the wire. A journeyman friend is in town tonight but I’ll try to have a more detailed summary by tomorrow.

In the meantime, please have a look at the photos and tell me: how am I going to get the petals to shrivel/contract/close on command and what will have enough force to return the wire to its normal state?

Friend, I’m making progress on this project. You can always check the flickr set here for the latest images.

Progress-wise, here’s what I’ve got left to do:

• Decide on the actual material to use for the final flower
• Figure out how the muscle wire will connect on either end, and where this will be - it seems now that molding my own silicone petals will not be feasible in my timeframe.
• Design the circuit - I have a photoresistor that would be easy to hook up to a small transistor circuit, but I’m not sure this’ll yield consistent results. Also, there’s a latching problem that I might want to try and solve with a timer.