Night Cruiser
Problem Statement
The Night Cruiser is intended for college kids riding around campus at night and ensures safer practices when night riding. I took personal experience of almost getting hit by cars multiple times on campus at night due to not being seen and made a practical product to solve that issue.
Goals + Build Process
To make a product intended for college kids riding around campus at night and attempting to ensure safer practices when riding at night
To take personal experience of almost getting hit by cars multiple times at night due to not being seen easily and solve the problem
Learn how to solder and work with LEDs
Come out with a finished product that helps people be seen at night while skateboarding so walking isn’t their only option
Sketches and First Prototype
Headlight Progression
At first, I didn’t take into consideration the size of the actual light I would be building around in my cardboard prototype. Then, I realized I needed to work on an indent to hold the size of the light along with the size of the screw holes to mount the light on the clip I designed. Finally, I decided to stick with the theme of the board and make the light on the front discrete, black would be a better color choice than white. The main idea of the headlight was the clearly light up the path Infront of the user so they can see any changes in the sidewalk or road they’re skating on.
Full Size Prototype and Build Progression
These process shots show how I soldered the LED strip to make solid connections that would go around the curves in the channel. I also had to epoxy the LED strip in there and have the epoxy set higher than the height of the wood so I could sand it down the be flush.
This full size prototype taught me that it would be way to difficult to have a channel in this shape because the curves were to tight and would require too many soldering connections. This really helped me come up with the final channel shape and execute my final model realistically.
Final Model
I chose the grip tape that I did because it was clear and would allow for the LEDs to shine through allowing for the rider the be illuminated by the LED strip.