Production - Starting to Assemble the Pixels

After assembling the first five test pixels, we realized that it would be quite a tedious and difficult process to assemble one hundred of them by gluing and holding them in place.

Additionally, the test pixels were assembled using superglue and a block of metal to ensure that the parts were square. Unfortunately this made the assembly time consuming as it was difficult to align the parts and the glue would take too long to dry.

In order to overcome these problems, assembly jigs were modeled in SolidWorks and 3d printed, and the glue replaced with acrylic solvent. The jig consists of two pieces that snap together to hold the acrylic pieces in place for gluing as well as drying. After drying, they can either be pulled apart or the lighter part slid out of the lower half.

Additionally, after a recent order, all acrylic pixel components have been laser cut and acquired from the WatIMake lab. Currently, we are assembling the four hundred corners of the pixels. The process for their assembly is split into two jobs: assembly and gluing. For the assembly task, one person adds the mating pieces of the acrylic to the jig and snaps everything in place.

At the same time, another person applies the solvent to the joints of the already assembled corners using an applicator bottle with a 22 gauge needle. Once the solvent has been applied and the joints checked, the parts are left to dry.

Once the parts are dry and the bond has reached eighty percent of its strength (2 minutes), the jig is removed to be used again. Below is an image of the assembly workspace.