Blitz Shield - Quarantine Edition
During the quarantine for the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself with plenty of time to revisit old projects with the engineering skills I gained in my first year of college. For the blitz shield I decided to start from scratch: upgrading the LEDs from 3W to 5W, breaking all 3d printed components into easy-to-print sub-components, using PCBs for the control electronics instead of point-to-point wiring, and replacing the old EVA mat body with custom fiberglass. While the project was not fully completed over the summer, I was able to finish the majority of the subsystems. I made additional progress on the project in 2021 between my internships at CFS and Formlabs.
The lightbox was designed to supply substantial airflow for the 5W flash LEDs, enabling a higher duty cycle.
Prior to attachment to the shield body, the complete electronics system was tested to identify its duty cycle and failure modes.
Multiple custom PCBs were used to connect the Teensy Arudino micro-controller to the user interfaces and other subsystems.
A new iteration of the board was created in 2021 with better component selection and positioning.
I tried multiple different adhesives for attaching the edge protecting trim and determined that the tough, flexible E6000 was the right fit for the job.
The light box was assembled from 6 separate 3d printed components, assembled, sanded and painted for the final product.
The shield’s fiberglass body was made on a mold constructed from wood, PETG sheet, and 3d printed brackets.
The de-mountable light box made it easy to repair the one dead flash bulb visible in the top left corner.
By the end of my two week break, the shield was nearly complete, simply requiring weathering and stenciling.