Periodic Placard

Summary : 

This nameplate eloquently captures the combination of a brief introduction with a profound passion for the sciences. The customizable 6.1 cm x 24.1cm x 2.3cm Periodic Placard goes beyond merely a title and quickly becomes a distinctive inclusion for any desk! For this project, I worked with Brian Nguyen.

Problem Statement : 

With a partner, you will design a “2D” placard using Solidworks.  You and your partner will have the same design which meets the constraints below, and you will EACH use Solidworks to create your design.

Part List : 

Assembly/Construction Instructions : 

First, gently press the Symbol parts into the corresponding Square parts until you hear a click. Push in the little printed parts for the holes in the letters.

Next, gently press the Letters parts into the corresponding Square parts until you hear a click. Push in as many little printed parts for the holes in the letters as possible.

Next, gently press the Number parts into the corresponding Square parts until you hear a click. Push in the little printed parts for the holes in the numbers.

Lastly, gently press the completed Squares into the Dish part. Your Periodic Placard is complete!

Design Choices : 

The lettering for the Periodic Placard proved to be tricky! 

Our first issue was with the font we chose. We originally wanted to use SWRompt but this became problematic. SWRompt wasn't simple enough because of the thin slightly curled edges. If we were to continue with SWRompt, the printer wouldn't adhere to the font setting correctly because of the precision required. For the element symbol, this wouldn't be an obvious problem because of the bigger size but with smaller letters, like in the element name or for the numbers, it would be too small to print exactly as envisioned. 

Although SWRompt was our selection, we found another equally pleasing font on SolidWorks so we converted all of the model to Yu Gothic and found success.

After we finalized Yu Gothic, all the letters had to be offset so that the pieces could be cut into separated parts that could combine. When the offset was applied, most letters obeyed but the original lines from Ns, Rs, and Bs intersected differently and created problem areas. These problem areas were highlighted by SolidWorks with a yellow box around a black dot. 

To overcome this, we had to delete the original lines that formed the yellow box and the actual yellow box. For the Ns, the problem area was in the corners of the N. We went to the Sketch option and added our own lines that connected completely around the N for an offset. We also used Smart Dimensions to provide the degrees in between the lines to form the corners of the N so that they could be applied to the other Ns we had to repair. Then, we manually offset.

For the Rs, the problem area was where the curve of the R connected with one of the legs. Again, we deleted the original lines and added a new line for the leg and we added a 3 point arc to accurately define the curve.  Then, we manually offset.

For the Bs, the problem area was where the curves connected. We also deleted the original curves and we utilized the 3 point arcs again to mend these Bs. Then, we manually offset.

With all the offsets completed, we could proceed to cut right through the words!