I kept thinking about the measuring tape idea I had during the earlier weeks. Measuring time with measuring tape just felt like an idea I need to try it out. This Dall-E generated image somehow got stuck in my head. Here goes my attempt at manifesting it into actuality.
Found this swatch design
Started off talking with Phil about what kind of mechanism would be good for my idea. Snapping the measuring tape back would be a bigger challenge since the stepper motor stops in its position if I were to stop at 60 and it does not disengage. So there needs to be a separate step for disengaging the motor / whatever is pulling the measuring tape.
Getting the stepper motor to work. Pulling the measuring tape. First observation that it only gives enough pull when the threads are directly wrapping around the main axis.
Side track exploration of belt pulley and magnets mechanism. The snap back motion would then come from a stop block that separated the tape and the magnet. However, the motor didn’t give enough torque to move the tape with magnets.
Back to original idea of a drive wheel with spool structure. I 3D printed a drive wheel and add rubber band for friction. Then laser cut a spool. Tested with two different kind of spool (one self made and another from the soft lab) to see which would roll better in my intended design. My self-made spool does a better job at keeping the thread in the spool, but the actual sewing spooling spins a lot better. To be fair, the laser cutter wasn’t at its best that day and the cut did not come out with clean edges.