Festival Challenge
Cymatic Machine
This project assembles de idea of creating a cymatic machine. This device transmits the vibrations of the water into surfaces, intending to create liquid patterns that can be observed through the physical reactions of molecules in one specific recipient.
Hardware Components
Speaker
MacBook Pro 15" 2018
Driller
Amplifier - Custom PCB
Software Components
Digital Frequency Generator
Blender
Fabrication Machines and Materials
Silicone
3D Printing Machine
PLA
Bolts
Calcium Bicarbonate
Water
Sodium Alginate
Purpose
The purpose of the object itself relates to the idea of understanding cymatics, a science that aims to comprehend the vibrations of frequencies applied to water and how these phenomena can be applied to the manipulation of the state of liquid matter with different materials, considering the physical properties of fluids.
These experiments are related to the studies from the Swiss scientist Jans Henny, who created the first cymatic machine based on Chaldni's discoveries centuries ago, when understanding the vibration of sound induced into metal plates through violin 'sticks', which implied the creation of Chaldni patterns.
The idea of creating this machine envisions the first step to create a 3D bioacoustic printer, to create which would include the blending of a cymatic machine with a cell incubator; however, considering the difficulty and complexity of the project along the time available during the challenge week, this project only focuses on the cymatic phenomena.
Hardware Assembling Process
To develop the machine, it was used a medium speaker with no traces of its configuration besides the physical understanding of its dimensions, by using a custom PCB made at the the Protolab to be used as an amplifier, that was working pretty well besides some polishments that had to be made by soldering specific parts that weren't very well attached. The quality of the speaker was decent, and it worked for its purpose to translate the frequencies into specific patterns into liquids on the plates I used.
The basic components for the machine go to the connection of the amplifier made with the custom found PCB with the speaker, connected to a 5V power connection using an audiojack type P2 with a MacBook Pro running and an online frequency sound generator from 0 to 10,000Hz of potency. It's important to enhance that consider the unknown origin of the speakers by itself, to test at a certain frequency could overload the amplifier and finally "break" the speaker.
Fabrication Process
To create the structure of the machine, it was used as the main base. The size of the speaker was applied to the shape of an egg, which geometrically would amplify and direct the signs and vibrations to the top, considering the location of the speaker at the bottom. The structure of the egg is divided into three specific parts: bottom (speaker location), body (visualization of the machine externally), and top, where a syringe would be allocated with calcium chloride to be injected into the plate where the vibrations would manipulate the liquid.
To develop the structure of the egg, it was used as the main software to generate and optimize the topology of the egg according to the functionalities implied through each specific part of the shape. This resulted in an egg-shaped form that uses less material quantity but reinforces the rigidity of the structure that would need to support the most important parts, where weight would be distributed accordingly to its geometry.
To fabricate the external structure of the egg it was used a Bamboo Lab 3D printer model X1 was used, which needed to be corrected by melting one specific part of the body that had a previous iteration of the topology optimization made in Blender. In addition, some other parts of the cymatic machine were developed to create the internal parts of the machine that would connect the speaker to the modular plates, the shaft center (which resonates the vibrations into the plates), and the second plate that would hold the shaft center in the middle connecting the whole internal structure to the speaker itself.
The idea of creating the plates for the machine was based on the aspect of fractal mathematical division recognized in different biological organisms and phenomena that were already used to create the forms and structures of my project, which involves the divisions of triangles and how they create patterns within their geometrical properties.
Machine Assembling
For the machine assembling part, the speaker was placed at the bottom of the egg, which was perfectly matched inside to accommodate the speaker, but to avoid dissipation of vibration it was glued a silicone layer to the internal structure to preserve and contain the force from the speaker inside of the egg, something that would help to avoid the noise coming from the inside too. The cables that connect the speaker would go inside the holes that arrange the generative design structure around its shape in the bottom part.
Within this, the support part floats above the speaker to contain the shaft center in the middle by using 4 screws that are attached to a metal structure around the edges of the device, which gave in result strong stability by the forces implied to the connections and as a consequence, less dissapation of reverbartion from the speaker to unwanted parts.
In the middle of everything, the 3D printing plates that are attached to a screw being used as the shaft center to bridge the vibrations from the speaker through its surface, which in consequence creates the vibrations need to produce the Faraday Waves phenomena envisioned in the project. However, it's important to mention that all the internal parts of the egg had to be assembled before allocating them inside the generative structure, which now, with the soldered cables, can turned to be a difficulty.
Within this, the support part floats above the speaker to contain the shaft center in the middle by using 4 screws that are attached to a metal structure around the edges of the device, which gave in result strong stability by the forces implied to the connections and as a consequence, less dissapation of reverbartion from the speaker to unwanted parts.
Machine Test
Hydrogel + Glycerine + Water - (110 Hz of frequency)
Water Test - From 1 - 310Hz of frequency
Conclusions and Reflections
During the Micro Challenge for the Festival, I could develop the first step of my machine to achieve a good and functional result that indeed manipulates the frequencies on water by being visualized through the Faraday Waves Phenomena studied by Michael Faraday. By achieving a good accuracy for the frequency, I could manipulate a certain level of the hydrogel composition I've made, which gives a good insight for future perspective of the project that aims to solidify the patterns achieved by the frequencies themselves.
However, different from my expectations, Faraday Waves behave a little differently from Chaldni's patterns, that was shown in the beginning of this document, considering that they work with different states of matter, as liquid and solid micro particles. Some tests made at Stanford with heart cells could achieve Chaldni's pattern while using liquid, which is still a mystery in this case for me, as a reference that represents my goal in this project.
To improve, a web with the same pattern as the support for the shaft center is being madesensitivitywith silicone to not break the diaphragm of the speaker and still keep with the high sensitivity of the reverberation aimed by the project. This comes with the importance of making a protective case for the amplifier with the custom PCB found and used in the hardware for the project, considering that at certain levels of frequency, the water molecules start to come up and spread all over the place. But it's something that can be solved with a protective case for the modular plates that are being used to vibrate.
In addition, I would like to quote the importance of having a better acoustic isolation for the egg with silicone, which would require another to apply the material without falling through its holes, and so the same material for some screws and bolts to not get corroted by the liquids inside. But it would be very important to test not only 3D printed materials, but also metal plates like Chaldni's in his experiments to achieve the same patterns as he did with liquids.
Besides, this project has made me reflect since the beginning, even before the challenge, the difficulties of understanding the physical complexities of liquids and how they behave and could transform their shapes, considering their properties, as viscosity or density, that completely change the results of the equation I'm trying to solve. For the next week, I'll dedicate myself to polishing the machine and balancing the density of liquids to achieve a solid pattern that projects something similar to Chaldni's pattern.
Cognitive Contribution License (CCL)
"Lucifer" by Carlos Alberto da Silveira Júnior
CCL v1.0 — AI contributed as Drafting Assistant in Research and Ideation. All other phases were fully human-led.
AI R1 I1 – v1.0
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