04NOV2023 – Some bugs remain in software preventing full integration with the filament measurement system at this time. The only current symptom is the motor pulses at 1 Hz and will not change speed or direction as before. These are thought to be a result of failing to establish initial conditions in the code properly. Additional debug is required and will be completed in the coming days.
07OCT2023 – Unfortunately exams have made it challenging to make significant progress on Restruder this week. The critical design review is taking place this coming Thursday so the presentation slide deck is in the works. I also found a few hours today to help Dr. Shane clear part of a wandering trail through the woods at his place of residence.
30SEP2023 – An initial software revision implementing the circular buffer has been completed. This will almost certainly require considerable debugging due to the complexity of the finished algorithm. The output stepper motor used for development is also exhibiting some undesired behavior for output frequencies between 117 and 163 Hz, manifesting itself as twitching, freezing, and rapid direction changes as opposed to the expected smooth operation. This will require additional exploration to identify the problem, but as a start the Arduino’s frequency output was verified as correct so the issue likely lies with the current output stepper driver implementation.
21SEP2023 – During the general meeting/lab cleanup I helped dismantle the induction furnace project to salvage any useful parts for future projects.
19SEP2023 – Met with the team to discuss the current state of the project and demonstrated current functionality. Apportioned work appropriately among team members. My next development effort on this project will focus on the implementation of the circular buffer and correctly incrementing/decrementing this to ensure the correct offset between measuring filament and driving it into the extruder head. The team also discussed options for correctly measuring and implementing this offset.