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Foresinc Report of a 3D printer

The task was to create a forensic report of a malfunctioning electronic device. The selected machine is an Anycubic 3D printer using resin-based technology for creating 3D objects.

Reflections

The notion of “broken machines” is challenged when we learn to dissemble them. Then we start to see multi-functionality and possibilities for alternative uses. Disassembling a 3D printer for resin was a double challenge: On one hand, it involved understanding the mechanics of the printer that I have never used before and was getting to know by looking at all its parts spread on the table. On the other hand, breaking apart a malfunctioning machine is something new to me. But getting to know a machine from the inside, unveiling its mechanical logic, carries a feeling of empowerment. Even simple things like finding out that each part is fed with different voltages was a discovery to me. I enjoyed testing the usability of different components of the 3D printer. I focused on helping to test the motor component that moves a slide in the Z axis of the printer. From testing wiring connections among the Arduino, driver 8825 and motor to testing the code in Arduino… I grasped and started to how the electronic/digital communication systems of many machines that we use in design work. Once powered and driven with a simple circuit using Barduino the Z axis had come back to life. That moment showed me that even within failure there is potential, not just for repair, but for reuse, repurposing, or even reinvention.

The Paradox Machine: The Moody Elevator

The design brief challenged us to build a “useless machine” out of the parts of the 3D printer Anycubic Photon M3 Plus that we disassembled.

Reflections

Exploring the potential of the Z axis motor was precisely the starting point for our next exercise, to create a useless machine as the design brief indicated to us. We set ourselves to create a Moody Elevator, a machine that has feelings and is not afraid to express them.

Each component from the Z-axis motor, the rails, and even the fan was reconsidered not as a broken piece, but as a potential contributor to a novel purpose. Testing the elevator box and the spinning fan taught us that form and function are inseparable: the fan’s capacity to move weight, and the proportional dimensions of the elevator box, directly informed the design of the 3D printed elevator. Similarly, experimenting with the Z-axis rail to map movements to specific emotional states transformed mechanical motion into expressive language.

In this week, I focused on the emotion display panel which made me think about the intimate relationship between technology and expression. We tested two options, OLED and LED, ultimately choosing the 8×8 LED module for its aesthetics. Condensing complex emotions into just eight pixels was a challenge, forcing me to think critically about minimalism and visual communication. Designing the four emoticons and testing them with corresponding buzzer sounds to match the emotional states highlighted how even constrained digital systems can convey rich affective information. We spent at least a couple of hours trying to find the right melodies that were recognizable in the beats format of the buzzer. The imperial march (Star Wars) was my favorite, seamlessly matching the angry emoticon. Each LED lighting up, each short melody playing, gave the machine a personality, moving it from a mechanical device to an expressive entity.

The emotion display panel represents the Moody Elevator’s identity, symbolizing how technology can communicate states beyond functionality. Unlike the printer, which communicated through movement and mechanical feedback, the elevator now had a voice and a face, a capacity to interact with users on an emotional level.

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