Welcome to the Development Blog

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Welcome to the Development Blog, the heart of the website where the progress of new and upcoming projects is recorded. This area is like a project log of all the things (both good and bad) which happen during the design and prototyping of new camera equipment. Take a look at the latest posts by scrolling down, or delve into something specific by selecting a post from the listings below:

SeymourPowell Contest [2014] Category: SeymourPowell Competition SeymourPowell Competition - Project Brief SeymourPowell Competition - User Insights SeymourPowell Competition - Industry Insights SeymourPowell Competition - Sketch and Model Work SeymourPowell Competition - CAD modelling SeymourPowell Competition - Interface mock-ups

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Shibusa Camera Concept [2013-14] Category: Viability Study Viability Research - Overview Viability Research - Camera Development Viability Research - Modern Photo-taking Viability Research - Commercial Value Viability Research - Emotional Value Viability Research - Conclusion & Spec Category: Initial Ideas Initial Ideas - Problem Exploration Initial Ideas - Brand Studies Initial Ideas - Concept One Initial Ideas - Concept Two Initial Ideas - Concept Three Initial Ideas - Form Factors Category: Concept Development Concept Development - Merging Designs Concept Development - Memory Card and Battery Concept Development - Planning the Working Model Concept Development - Construction and Assembly Concept Development - Starting the CAD Concept Development - Engineering the dials 1 Concept Development - Engineering the dials 2 Concept Development - Engineering the dials 3 Concept Development - Ring flash Concept Development - Autofocus 1 Concept Development - Autofocus 2 Concept Development - Autofocus 3 Concept Development - Final Tweaks Concept Development - Final Concept Presentation Concept Development - Final Concept Drawings Concept Development - CAD Time-lapse Category: Concept Prototyping Concept Prototyping - Control Dials [1] Concept Prototyping - Control Dials [2] Concept Prototyping - Presentation Case Concept Prototyping - CMD Accent Plates Concept Prototyping - Lens Surround Concept Prototyping - Outer Aluminium Rim Concept Prototyping - Shutter Button Concept Prototyping - Rapid Prototyping the Unibody Concept Prototyping - Designing Internal Cages Concept Prototyping - Laser Cut Leather

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Optics Development [2012-13] Category: Prototyping 1 Reverse engineering the EF mount First lens design - 50/125 SL PMMA Initial Prototyping - Day 0 Initial Prototyping - Day 1 Initial Prototyping - Day 2 Initial Prototyping - Day 3 Initial Prototyping - Day 4 Initial Prototyping - Day 5 Initial Prototyping - Day 6... Initial Prototyping - Final Lens Category: Testing 1 Testing - Still Scene [50.1 PMMA] Testing - Still Scene Analysis [50.1 PMMA @ F1] Testing - Still Scene Analysis [50.1 PMMA @ F2-8] Testing - Still Scene Analysis [50.1 PMMA @ F16] Testing - Walk around [50.1 PMMA @ F/16 {APS-C}] Testing - Still Scene [50.1 PMMA ASPH] Aspherical Lenses and Field of View Prototype Branding Video Testing - Walk around [50.1 PMMA (1)] Category: Prototyping 2 Prototyping 2 - Multi-Element Lenses Prototyping 2 - Day 1 Prototyping 2 - Day 2 Prototyping 2 - Day 3 Prototyping 2 - Day 4 Prototyping 2 - Day 5 Prototyping 2 - Day 6 Prototyping 2 - Day 7 Prototyping 2 - Day 8 Prototyping 2 - Day 9 Prototyping 2 - Day 10 Prototyping 2 - Day 11 Prototyping 2 - Day 12 Category: Testing 2 Testing 2 - Sample Shots [50.2'8 & 90.2] Testing 2 - Cumulative Error Syndrome Testing 2 - Fixing the IQ with machine polishing Testing 2 - Quantifying Failure Category: Prototyping 3 Prototyping 3 - Machine Finished Surfaces Prototyping 3 - Optical Design Prototyping 3 - Optimisation Prototyping 3 - Housing Design Prototyping 3 - Design Review Prototyping 3 - Machine Polishing Prototyping 3 - Polishing the PMMA elements Prototyping 3 - Polishing the Polycarbonate element Prototyping 3 - Last resort design modifications

Concept Prototyping - Laser cut leather

To finish off the camera, it is faced with leather. To ensure it fits perfectly, it is laser cut to fit into the accent plate. Below you can see how the leather samples came out of the machine. While they fit well, they need to be pressed to reduce the material thickness, after thicker leather was chosen based on the available colours.

Concept Prototyping - Designing Internal Cages

Under requirements of my degree, I have to make at least one full visual model showcasing the main design features. To go along side this, I am also building a working model with a Nikon compact camera embedded with-in it, as well as an exploded model showcasing some of the more complex components of the design.

To achieve the design using the equipment available to me, a unique construction needed to be created. Above is a render of all the internal parts necessary to create the two main models. The 3D models were made in Solidworks working from the footprint of the camera and adding in features on by one, cutting them out of a honeycomb profile added for strength. The models are difficult to explain, as features were added over a couple of days resulting in CAD files full of details which I knew were there for a reason, but I couldn't quite explain. To help, I've presented a step by step construction below:

Visual Model

Below we can see the parts for the visual model which were manufactured externally in London by Digits2Widgets. They are Nylon SLS 3D printer parts.

The construction is split into two halves to aid construction and strength. Using a unibody and body cap would not be strong enough when manufactured via SLS. Key parts such as the dials drop in from the outside and are locked into the body with retainer rings:

Below we can see one of the trickier components, the slide mechanism. This will attach to the aluminium exterior. This parts is not accurate to how the design would be in reality, as the slide mechanism would really rely on how the aluminium parts is made. Therefore, every effort has been made to make it as thin and unobtrusive to the aesthetics of the design as possible. Location points for magnets should also help the slide stay open and closed:

With the second half attatched to the body, we can see how the slide mechanism is kept in place while a location point has been added in the form of a slot in order to attach the lens housing. Around this there is a stepped diameter which will allow for a disc to be inserted which will spin 100 degrees with the aluminium lens surround:

Here we can see the lens unit added via the slot seen above.

Now finally we can see the aluminium parts added snugly to the unit:

Working Model

 The construction for the working model has different requirements. The most important consideration is how to fit the Nikon compact camera within the body in exactly the correct position. Below you can see the bottom half of the body with a void for the camera to drop into:

Below we can see the camera mounted into the body. To provide access to the control, stepped holes are provided into which pass through aluminium buttons are located:

Here we can see the buttons located exactly in line with the buttons on the camera. They have been trimmed to fit exactly, resulting in the two step feeling of the buttons being felt when pressing the aluminium ones. Holes will be drilled in the exterior aluminium shell to accommodate them:

With the unit closed it is neat and compact. The entire top half can be removed to get access to the camera. This is achieved with magnets and loose interference fits within the aluminium exterior:

Finally the lens unit is added, dropping into the hole in the SLS body. The Nikon lens protrudes into the hole when switched on:

Concept Prototyping - Rapid Prototyping the Unibody

For my exploded model I want to present all the parts as they would be if manufactured for real. The most complicated part of the entire design is the injection moulded unibody, which has the responsibility of holding all the components of the camera together. With more than a dozen separate jobs to do, the unibody contains lots of details which would otherwise go un-noticed in a plain visual model. Therefore, I have decided to use our FDM rapid prototyping equipment to print a copy of the unibody and other components so that I can present a 100% accurate version of the body and demonstrate the intense levels of detailed embedded in the design of the camera.

Concept Prototyping - Shutter Button

One of the detailed parts needing to be cut was the shutter buttons which are a prominent feature of the rear of the camera. The top surface of the button has a slight curvature. only with a depth of about 1mm, but it is very noticeable and pleasant to touch. Into this surface a little aperture logo is cut, to imply the buttons function without the need for words (the camera is ambidextrous so words cannot be used due to orientation). Cutting such small fine details required a multi step cutting process and a fair bit of trial and error. Below you can see the very tight cutting paths which were used to cut the motif separately using a very small 2mm ball end cutter.

After machining I noticed the 3mm ball cutter used to finish the curvature of the top surface left a horrible pattern. Something wrong with feeds or spindle speed caused it, but with the damage done there was only a lot of polishing left to fix it. Progressive papers from 120 through to 1000 eventually worked out the cutting trails and brought out the motif nicely. These were the first pars to be finished in the satin look aluminium finish which will feature across all the aluminium parts of the camera.

Concept Prototyping - Outer Aluminium Rim

The cutting of the outer aluminium profile was probably the easiest and most straight forward job, quickly completed in half a day. It simply involved large bits of aluminium (above), and large cutters (below). After talking it over with everyone under the sun, I concluded that the only effective way of getting the outer profile without any deformities or metal memory/stress issues was to cut it out of a block. Wasteful and expensive yes, but necessary at this stage in the game. A massive block of 1 inch aluminium provided the material for the part plus plenty of space for tool clearance and clamp space. The photos below explain the process much better than I do in words:

Here you can see the final part. Tabs were left on to ensure the part didn't move and smash the tool. They were eventually cut through and filled out. Two profiles were made, one normal size and one over sized with cuts locating where the profile splits open (on the visual model part of the profile slides across to reveal the battery/SD card slot.

Concept Prototyping - Lens Surround

My last major aluminium part to be cut out was the lens surround, which is twisted to active the camera. In the models I am presenting for my degree, one will twist for demonstration purposes and the other will remain fixed. With a component height of roughly 21mm, I had to invest in some heafty aluminium blanks to cut them out from. I ended up with 3 90x90 1inch (26 ish mm) blanks to match the massive 1 inch block which the outer rim was cut out of. The 90x90 footprint meant that they could be drilled and pinned to the existing jig which was used to hold the block in place when milling the control dials.

I was fairly anxious about machining these parts due to their depth and complexity. I ended up spending an entire day machining the first one, setting up the jig in XY Zero and perfectly aligned along the same axis as the pins, and setting up tools and cutting paths which could be saved and run in batch on the following parts.

The cutting required 3 different milling tools in the end. A 12mm end mill hollowed out the centre rapidly, whilst a 6mm end mill handled all the facing and Z-Level roughing to within 0.2mm of the final surface (excluding areas where the rad of the tool was far to big). Then a 3mm ball mill went in and completed the Z-Level finishing, getting into all the tight rads while smoothing out as much of the surface as possible. The finishing pass operated at a mighty small 0.1mm Z step (shown below).

Above we can see the 3mm ball mill cutter used for the finishing pass. One of the trouble I encountered was that the spindle was on a collision path with the top face of the aluminium blank when cutting with a conventional cutter. To avoid this, I found a cutter which had had its shank ground down to give the tip greater reach, just enough to prevent a spindle collision which could really have damaged the part.

The final parts were good, but annoyingly a software error caused an annoying ring to be left around the entire part. The line is where the cutting tool has skipped about 0.4mm of Z level steps. The resulting line is therefor upto 0.2mm max larger than it should be. While this may seem minute, it very obviously has a visual effect. This line was reduced when for the second and third part copies by trying to alter the software's method of generating the cutting path, but a small 0.1 line still remains which will need to be polished out.