It looks to me as if you are doing a phd on pcb actuator. At first it started as a fun little expériement but with each video. I feel like you're improving your skill in R&D. Good job man.
I have no idea what this is gonna be used for what it could be used for but I’m extremely impressed with your dedication to making the best thing you can. Cool stuff don’t stop creating.
@@warrenarnold I thought bit coin was a product of block chain tech that puts two computers in a singular computation and if both computers get the same answer, a bit coin is created?
The reason why your double sided actuator didn’t twist is because the two sides added off-axis rigidity. Because of the linear motion of your actuator, it was always going to tend to twist if it had a single pole along its axis of motion (an example of this is objects in space tending to spin). I love the methodology you used to avoid problems that otherwise would have remained elusive. These are super exciting! Any other ideas for novel actuators on your mind? (1st time watcher and subscriber)
Have you thought of or tested using a second coil instead of the rare earth magnet? Using a square wave 90 degrees out of phase with each other so that they could take turns attracting and repelling each other? It may reduce costs and speedup replacement of failed units.
Wonderful project evolving over time. I imagine folk who build shop window displays would love the opportunity to add gently flapping butterflies into their builds using this tech. Keep up the great work 👍😀
Can you hang a couple of these from some string and then tune the system to constructively interfere with each other and create some larger oscillatory motion? If so that would be an interesting (though impractical) replacement for the rhythm of a clock.
very neat stuff! You're running into PCB failures we usually only get to see on rare occasions after millions of units have been in the field for years. Awesome seeing people pushing this tech to its breaking point!
Hey Carl, this project sure has evolved! It's been a real treat watching your iterative process in action. Thank you for sharing, and keep up the great work!
Thank you for showing the steps that lead to the final thing..the failures, the changes, the smallest of things that can lead to some major improvements..
Would be interesting to see an electromagnet on the stiff side and a sensor that detects the distance so it can pull it a certain distance when it's safe to and doesn't need to physically slam up against it
Imagine the revolution you gonna make when this will be applied to music instruments like clarinet ?????? You have really made a tremendous breakthrough .
This has a similar motion to a reed valve in a two-stroke engine. It could be a cool application or you could draw from reed design literature if you'd like to improve your design further. Great video, thank you!
if you add a reflective surface, maybe even something mirror-like, the flap can be used as a pov-display WITHOUT adding the led's weight to the flap. just put the leds in a black box with a narrow slit, pointed at the mirror-flap...
You might want to start doing finite element analysis to get a better idea of your actuator's mechanical response, particularly torsional stiffness. Autodesk and FreeCAD can do it.
So talented! Once I establish myself as a Maker I am soo going to hit you up. Your hardware and some of my ideas 💡 ... The applications are endless. Amazing work sir! Please keep sharing!
What a wonderful design, and an AMAZING MASTERCLASS in the design PROCESS a skilled engineer uses to iterate their project from one version to the next and how to properly test said design before going to market. Id love to have a few of these in my electronics box for projects just incase they're needed, but moneys too tight right now, so I'll just say well done sir!
For future versions, have you looked into steel wires for connectors? I believe generally steel has better performance with respect to fatigue than copper
Hey Carl, look into the flex PCB i-beam effect. If you put traces directly over each other on the top and bottom layer, it creates more stress in the copper than if the traces were offset.
I think there are applications beyond art. The immediate use case I see is a valve. There are cases where you may want to prevent dust going between two locations, and covering a hole with a flap is one solution.
Hey, absolutely incredible video, as always! An interesting idea might be to build some sort of mechanical relay out of this, maybe even logic gates. Could be cool if one could build a computer out of nothing but (flex-)PCB!
Can you ramp the voltage up and down to control the rate that the actuators open or close? Butterflies normally flap their wings kind of slowly and in a controlled manner -- they don't just snap them open and then shut again. Same with flower petals. If you can make things open and close at the speed you want that would be really cool.
I think instead of flapping ...u can stick with the basics nd make a spring hemisphere fan which can spin way faster doing the same job as Holographic display ....jus make the fan bigger for bigger displays..
If you ever get bored of this project and/or just need a new idea, *i think a cool project would be making “Open Source Haptic Actuators”* for things like Game/ VR Controllers, Interactive Art Displays / Playground Games, Sim Gear, etc. As evidenced by this series, and not only the designing experience you earned, but the reliability you are getting out of these components, i think making Imbalanced Weight (PCB?) Motor Plug and Play Modules, “Bump” based linear actuators (maybe some sort of PCB that launches a metal disk/“doughnut” (maybe just a washer?) up a few mm/cm on a pole?, etc. This could lead to really neat HID Gear, VR Controllers, and even be Incorporated into Public Art Displays for Makerfairs and whatnot! Also i have seen, at least once, some sort of playground toy with Load Cell (or Buttons, I don’t remember), speakers and lights in modules, and you would run around and hit/kick them depending on the mode (ghost hunt, ninja dojo, etc) Was a hit crazy of a project, so may even require reaching out and collaborating with someone like James Bruton etc, but that would be one HELL of a project! Either way i think doing stuff like all that, or even just more of the amazing work you have already done will be exciting to see going forward!
Well I suppose your flaps have big potential as PIXELS for huge outdoor displays. With zero power consumption as well - for static images. Well done, don't stop!
Take several of the "With hole" ones and stack them. Wire them with alternating polarities and you have a wildly useful device... Like tiny self-opening/closing curtain hangers for a tiny window, or if you put some thin, pleated fabric between each one, you can have a bellows without a piston and associated rubbing/sealing.
While a bit more on the art side, the stability of those two-arm actuators would probably do a good job of showing how a DLP chip works at a macro scale (just need to put some aluminium tape on the reverse to act as a lightweight mirror)
Perfect test system for light weight flexible couplings. Valves for very low air pressures. Someone somewhere is looking for this to fit an application.
Do you think it would work for moving air? Mounting on a heat sink? How much power does it use compared to a fan? Really cool little thing. I can think of so many interesting ways of using this.
Another application I can think of, is automatic playing of a wind instrument like a saxophone, clarinet, oboe, etc. The way those actuators move would be perfect to close and open the holes on the windpipe of a wind instrument.
I kept thinking of solutions and the next thing you know, you were implementing those solutions! It was fun sort of working along with you in that way. I did wonder early on why you hadn't tried double arm flexors (I think you're right that the magnetic field twisted the single arm flap off axis).
To reach the best design for the arms you could use optimization algorithms that minimize the mass while also minimizing the bending natural frequency and max mises stress in the arms and maximizes the twisting natural frequencies.
Great work, that's an amazing R&D effort. You are essentially developing a vibration arm with a control system and are encountering all the aspects of those types of systems. WRT to the torsion of the arm, perhaps the magnetic fields are trying to align and it is producing a torque? It looks like the 35mm arm is twisting as well, just not as much. You could make one arm slightly wider to increase its stiffness to counteract that bending.
I absolutely love watching the development process in such great detail. As for applications, I think an interesting one might be something like the flip-dot displays you sometimes see in bus signs and similar. A big array of these actuators (and maybe a retro-reflective surface) and I bet a passable 2D image could be rendered in grayscale mechanically. Might be noisy, though.
OMG! I've sitting on this design of simple flapping battery powered prop butterflies that you can put anywhere. This looks just like it!!! I knew it's possible like this, but lack the knowledge of how to..
This is oddly intriguing! What about using the tech in reverse: Having this coil sit between two magnets and flap back and forth from external wind (maybe also water?) energy. Then you would have an alternative to a wind turbine.
Someone should make a flip-dot display with these. im not sure what the fastest one of those are but these seem to offer some really good features for that!
I see some really neat applications from this. However I could use this in a specific project I'm building but it won't be flapping. I just like the design and compact state of everything.
With a few alterations (focus on impulse rather than angle), I think this would be perfect for haptics. e.g. Sew them into a glove and actuate them in relation to touching something in VR. Make a vest out of them and you feel (gently) getting "shot" in laser tag or a video game.
I see you already have a video about piezo haptics. I'm thinking these could go beyond buzzing and just have smooth analog pressure, rather than just buzzing.
If you make it inside a rectangular aluminum duct, you should be able to measure airflow. If it works well and it's cheap, it could be used to cool server racks.
I like the aesthetics of this design. It might be neat to have a 2D array, that if lit from an oblique angle so different angles would have different luminosity, it might act as a mechanical pixel display, maybe a little like DLP. Also, if the array were actuated in a wave pattern, would it move air? It would look cool in any case.
I can't help but be disappointed you didn't call it the flaptuator.
😂
Just brand name it the "Fap, fap".
Flap? Flap flap!
Flap flap flap? FLAP!
flap
Not my proudest flap
Flapperjappers.
It looks to me as if you are doing a phd on pcb actuator. At first it started as a fun little expériement but with each video. I feel like you're improving your skill in R&D. Good job man.
@@iridium8341 FOUND THE GUY WITH NO FRIENDS^
@@DakotaDinwoodie probably a virgin too
I have no idea what this is gonna be used for what it could be used for but I’m extremely impressed with your dedication to making the best thing you can. Cool stuff don’t stop creating.
4:20 Its used for mining bitcoins, they put a coin on the magnet
@@warrenarnold I thought bit coin was a product of block chain tech that puts two computers in a singular computation and if both computers get the same answer, a bit coin is created?
@@ajjskins They put a pickaxe on the flap and a bitcoin underneath it and it mines the coin
This statement tells us that you haven't watched the video nor read the description: 08:21 - Applications
For massage
Absolutely incredible! Super attention to detail and persistence which lead to these amazing results!
thanks!
@@CarlBugeja it's funny that persistence is that got you into this project in the first place!
Hey - i think i heard everything but i dont know the idea and purpose of this flaps?
You are the Wintergatan of pcb design. Amazing work.
The reason why your double sided actuator didn’t twist is because the two sides added off-axis rigidity. Because of the linear motion of your actuator, it was always going to tend to twist if it had a single pole along its axis of motion (an example of this is objects in space tending to spin). I love the methodology you used to avoid problems that otherwise would have remained elusive.
These are super exciting! Any other ideas for novel actuators on your mind? (1st time watcher and subscriber)
I like the little progress, because it shows the real world and that such an Projekt is Not makeable in 1 Week
Always delightful to see someone to take reliability so seriously. Kudos man.
Have you thought of or tested using a second coil instead of the rare earth magnet? Using a square wave 90 degrees out of phase with each other so that they could take turns attracting and repelling each other? It may reduce costs and speedup replacement of failed units.
These actuators make me smile 😊. Video was very informative. Excellent job.
Wonderful project evolving over time. I imagine folk who build shop window displays would love the opportunity to add gently flapping butterflies into their builds using this tech.
Keep up the great work 👍😀
I can see this being used for sound sculptures and synthesis too
Can you hang a couple of these from some string and then tune the system to constructively interfere with each other and create some larger oscillatory motion? If so that would be an interesting (though impractical) replacement for the rhythm of a clock.
Man, you're the reason I love RUclips. Great job putting your work, problem solving skills, and tenacity up here for all to see. 👍🏼👍🏼
What about a flapper optimized for "airflow"? Might be useful for cooling applications.
Fans would still be better at moving air. And if something can be cooled by flappers then maybe passive cooling is sufficient.
That exists! It doesn't looks that different from this but flaps way faster, you can see it on LTT
very neat stuff! You're running into PCB failures we usually only get to see on rare occasions after millions of units have been in the field for years. Awesome seeing people pushing this tech to its breaking point!
Hey Carl, this project sure has evolved! It's been a real treat watching your iterative process in action. Thank you for sharing, and keep up the great work!
Thank you for showing the steps that lead to the final thing..the failures, the changes, the smallest of things that can lead to some major improvements..
Would be interesting to see an electromagnet on the stiff side and a sensor that detects the distance so it can pull it a certain distance when it's safe to and doesn't need to physically slam up against it
Imagine the revolution you gonna make when this will be applied to music instruments like clarinet ??????
You have really made a tremendous breakthrough .
This has a similar motion to a reed valve in a two-stroke engine. It could be a cool application or you could draw from reed design literature if you'd like to improve your design further. Great video, thank you!
Really Great Example of Jigs/Processes for Testing like this at the “Mid-Scale Manufacturing” / Maker-scale!
Very interesting idea. The flaps definitely could benefit of Berrylium Copper tracks as it's one of the most flexible and yet resilient material.
if you add a reflective surface, maybe even something mirror-like, the flap can be used as a pov-display WITHOUT adding the led's weight to the flap. just put the leds in a black box with a narrow slit, pointed at the mirror-flap...
You might want to start doing finite element analysis to get a better idea of your actuator's mechanical response, particularly torsional stiffness. Autodesk and FreeCAD can do it.
This is an amazing video with great research, im glad I watched.
Your projects are always so interesting. thank you for continuing to share and inspire Carl.
Best video in the series so far! Loved the testing all the different designs
So talented! Once I establish myself as a Maker I am soo going to hit you up. Your hardware and some of my ideas 💡 ... The applications are endless. Amazing work sir! Please keep sharing!
Incredible stuff! I wonder if its applications can be extended to some form of ornithopter flight mechanism!
What a wonderful design, and an AMAZING MASTERCLASS in the design PROCESS a skilled engineer uses to iterate their project from one version to the next and how to properly test said design before going to market. Id love to have a few of these in my electronics box for projects just incase they're needed, but moneys too tight right now, so I'll just say well done sir!
For future versions, have you looked into steel wires for connectors? I believe generally steel has better performance with respect to fatigue than copper
Yes. Depends on the type of steel.
Fabulous research. I can’t wait to find out what the flapper would be good for.
Always awesome to see someone doing things differently!
Hey Carl, look into the flex PCB i-beam effect. If you put traces directly over each other on the top and bottom layer, it creates more stress in the copper than if the traces were offset.
your dedication to this research is both amazing and admirable! Keep it up!
I think there are applications beyond art. The immediate use case I see is a valve. There are cases where you may want to prevent dust going between two locations, and covering a hole with a flap is one solution.
Love your actuators!
I love the way you tested and tested to make sure you could make a quality product. Please keep it up. You are doing great!
Hey, absolutely incredible video, as always! An interesting idea might be to build some sort of mechanical relay out of this, maybe even logic gates. Could be cool if one could build a computer out of nothing but (flex-)PCB!
I love the walkthrough of your issues and troubleshooting. Very cool to see your thought process.
Very informative video as usual👍 Bravo!!👏👏
Can you ramp the voltage up and down to control the rate that the actuators open or close? Butterflies normally flap their wings kind of slowly and in a controlled manner -- they don't just snap them open and then shut again. Same with flower petals. If you can make things open and close at the speed you want that would be really cool.
My idea is to uses 2,073,600 of these in a grid 1920x1080 flapping at 30 or maybe 60hz to make a projector.
I think instead of flapping ...u can stick with the basics nd make a spring hemisphere fan which can spin way faster doing the same job as Holographic display ....jus make the fan bigger for bigger displays..
first thought: flappy bird actuator
Very well done, Carl. I really like the 'adding LED's' topic... That has some promising technology-meets-art applications.
Could this be used for air circulation?
it can but it won't be very effective compare to other fans - i made a video on this topica few months ago ruclips.net/video/Rm4wyXis4Tg/видео.html
I didnt know i was interested in this, thanks youtube. Enjoyed seeing all the testing and steps you went through to get that final version done.
They remind me of insect wings. Do you get any wind off them?
not that much - ruclips.net/video/Rm4wyXis4Tg/видео.html
Absolute innovation at its finest. This dudes going places with a brain that big
If you ever get bored of this project and/or just need a new idea, *i think a cool project would be making “Open Source Haptic Actuators”* for things like Game/ VR Controllers, Interactive Art Displays / Playground Games, Sim Gear, etc.
As evidenced by this series, and not only the designing experience you earned, but the reliability you are getting out of these components, i think making Imbalanced Weight (PCB?) Motor Plug and Play Modules, “Bump” based linear actuators (maybe some sort of PCB that launches a metal disk/“doughnut” (maybe just a washer?) up a few mm/cm on a pole?, etc.
This could lead to really neat HID Gear, VR Controllers, and even be Incorporated into Public Art Displays for Makerfairs and whatnot!
Also i have seen, at least once, some sort of playground toy with Load Cell (or Buttons, I don’t remember), speakers and lights in modules, and you would run around and hit/kick them depending on the mode (ghost hunt, ninja dojo, etc) Was a hit crazy of a project, so may even require reaching out and collaborating with someone like James Bruton etc, but that would be one HELL of a project!
Either way i think doing stuff like all that, or even just more of the amazing work you have already done will be exciting to see going forward!
Hey there is one of these in a park in Columbus Ohio , USA
Well I suppose your flaps have big potential as PIXELS for huge outdoor displays. With zero power consumption as well - for static images. Well done, don't stop!
Take several of the "With hole" ones and stack them. Wire them with alternating polarities and you have a wildly useful device... Like tiny self-opening/closing curtain hangers for a tiny window, or if you put some thin, pleated fabric between each one, you can have a bellows without a piston and associated rubbing/sealing.
While a bit more on the art side, the stability of those two-arm actuators would probably do a good job of showing how a DLP chip works at a macro scale (just need to put some aluminium tape on the reverse to act as a lightweight mirror)
I really enjoy this kind of hardware dev vlog content. Not boring at all to me!
You didn't bore me to death and I can clearly see your love for the craft.
What I'm curious about is simply the future of these ideas 💡
Awesome, could definitely call this a compliant design.
Very happy to see your progress from initial stage to robust builds.
Perfect test system for light weight flexible couplings. Valves for very low air pressures. Someone somewhere is looking for this to fit an application.
Crazy to go sooo deep in one projekt
Your flexible heater drew me in but this video made me a subscriber, keep up the amazing work.
I have no idea what I watched this the entire way though, and most of the information went over my head but you did a good job 👍
Thank you for your knowledge. Very interesting.
100,000,000 like... It's wonderful work Mr. Bugeja 👍👋
What an interesting video, has been months since i last saw something that much interesting being suggested to me by youtube.
Altum designer is the best! Don't know how I would create pcbs without them and design way.
Do you think it would work for moving air? Mounting on a heat sink? How much power does it use compared to a fan? Really cool little thing. I can think of so many interesting ways of using this.
Looks genius, but what's the use for?
Another application I can think of, is automatic playing of a wind instrument like a saxophone, clarinet, oboe, etc. The way those actuators move would be perfect to close and open the holes on the windpipe of a wind instrument.
Awesome details on the design and testing process, so many applications 😮
Such and underrated channel, im happy RUclips suggested it. Keep it up man!
I kept thinking of solutions and the next thing you know, you were implementing those solutions! It was fun sort of working along with you in that way. I did wonder early on why you hadn't tried double arm flexors (I think you're right that the magnetic field twisted the single arm flap off axis).
I think that the text on the coils worked as a built-in overheat indicator quite well, great project nevertheless 😁
But it also acted as a collector of heat and removing it helped that area to cool off better and dissipate more efficiently
To reach the best design for the arms you could use optimization algorithms that minimize the mass while also minimizing the bending natural frequency and max mises stress in the arms and maximizes the twisting natural frequencies.
I love seeing the whole process
you could add a mirror finish, make an array, point a focused light to it... there you go, free HUGE DLP display.
Great work, that's an amazing R&D effort. You are essentially developing a vibration arm with a control system and are encountering all the aspects of those types of systems.
WRT to the torsion of the arm, perhaps the magnetic fields are trying to align and it is producing a torque? It looks like the 35mm arm is twisting as well, just not as much. You could make one arm slightly wider to increase its stiffness to counteract that bending.
I absolutely love watching the development process in such great detail.
As for applications, I think an interesting one might be something like the flip-dot displays you sometimes see in bus signs and similar. A big array of these actuators (and maybe a retro-reflective surface) and I bet a passable 2D image could be rendered in grayscale mechanically. Might be noisy, though.
Saw this on my recommendations, now I'm intrigued...
OMG! I've sitting on this design of simple flapping battery powered prop butterflies that you can put anywhere. This looks just like it!!! I knew it's possible like this, but lack the knowledge of how to..
Congratulations for the clever and precise product research project
This was just fun to watch. Thanks for the good time, dude.
This is oddly intriguing!
What about using the tech in reverse: Having this coil sit between two magnets and flap back and forth from external wind (maybe also water?) energy.
Then you would have an alternative to a wind turbine.
with holes in it, that makes a good air intake valve system that can easily be timed for internal combustion. nice!
Well done sir! We are proud of you!
Really awesome work man. I can think of a lot of fun applications
Can't wait to make a butterfly drone out of these
Someone should make a flip-dot display with these. im not sure what the fastest one of those are but these seem to offer some really good features for that!
Never a boring video Carl! Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing!
I see some really neat applications from this. However I could use this in a specific project I'm building but it won't be flapping. I just like the design and compact state of everything.
Definitely very important and application rich work. Great job Sir
Keep it up. I always learn something from your videos.
With a few alterations (focus on impulse rather than angle), I think this would be perfect for haptics. e.g. Sew them into a glove and actuate them in relation to touching something in VR. Make a vest out of them and you feel (gently) getting "shot" in laser tag or a video game.
I see you already have a video about piezo haptics. I'm thinking these could go beyond buzzing and just have smooth analog pressure, rather than just buzzing.
If you make it inside a rectangular aluminum duct, you should be able to measure airflow. If it works well and it's cheap, it could be used to cool server racks.
I like the aesthetics of this design. It might be neat to have a 2D array, that if lit from an oblique angle so different angles would have different luminosity, it might act as a mechanical pixel display, maybe a little like DLP. Also, if the array were actuated in a wave pattern, would it move air? It would look cool in any case.
This is amazing! I wish I had this guys energy.
Really Good Design is often very beautiful at the same time ❤
There is a place in heaven for people whop works hard to make reliable and durable things.
The amount of work and careful effort you put into this is amazing. Keep making incredible things !