Custom Mouse

 I decided to base my mouse on a bullet train.  

I First drew up some basic plans of what I wanted it to look like. I then modeled it in clay before deciding where the mouse should be split.

 

Logitech Mouse

Assignment Two for Advanced Computer Modelling

This next project was mainly about reverse engineering a Logitech computer mouse to a high-quality surface finish. To achieve this, I had to learn how to use surface modeling functions. Also with this assignment, I got to learn how to create animation and also render the animation inside Solidworks. 

I jumped right into this project with a positive attitude, but that soon dissipated as I for some reason couldn't get my head around the simplest components. I got really stuck with the spring and the change in angles/directions. 

 I took a step back and regained my thoughts. It suddenly hit me that I could use lofts to join the wire in the springs  

I came to another problem when making the splits in the wheel, the extruded cut would come to a square finish. I tried different sketches on different plains but I still wasn't getting the result I was after.

 I then began experimenting with fillets on the hard edges, this gave me the result I was looking for.

I was excited to start surface modeling after watching the videos as it is more about sculping that exact dimensions

 I found that creating 3D sketches with the projected curve function very fascinating and to be pretty accurate with my images.  

 When I was using the fill surface command I had a little issue with my sketches and also with the relationships between them. To fix this issue I redid my sketches and played around with the relationships.

I was also having issues with the boundary surface command. I kept receiving errors in direction two, I would delete and reselect the boundaries, but would always receive the error. I soon came to realize that I had left sketches on that had not been trimmed to the right dimensions. I also found that I needed the selection manager on.   

As I was about to add the tabs to the battery door I realized that I had in fact modeled the door the opposite way. This was due to my original image being imported the wrong way around.

  

I'm a bit disappointed in myself as I ran out of time to finish modeling all the mouse components. I thought it would be best for my experience if I moved on to the other elements of the assignment, like the animation so that I could also gain skills in rendering and other aspects of computer modeling. However, I am pretty happy with the results of the surface modeling. If I was to do this again I would definitely improve on getting all the mouse components modeled up and to a much higher quality.

Deanna Wilson