SANDSARA

Wed May 19 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago – Wed, May 19, 2021 at 10:30:43 AM

Hello everyone,

This is a quick catch-up on what’s been happening in the last few weeks regarding the wood ring production prototyping.

We’ve been working with our suppliers on wood ring samples. Today we received news that the final samples are ready! We wanted to share this with you, so here are some pictures from our production team:

What are the next steps?

Our supplier will send a small batch of these samples to us for in-house testing and quality checks. Additionally, we’ll send another batch to a certified testing lab that will perform controlled tests on the samples.

In the first quality inspection made in the factory, all the wood ring samples are within the right margins and parameters, but as we already know, wood is a live material; so we shall perform a Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) to ensure that the wood will not deform under different environmental conditions. This procedure is different from FCC and CE testing, which will be doing just after the first batch is assembled.

The HALT consists of several stages, but there are two critical ones focused on the wood rings. The first one is stress testing which will allow us to select the best ring construction based on its flatness, resistance to cracking, and stiffness. We’ll be using an environmental chamber to carry these tests, which exposes the product to extreme conditions as the cool thermal step stress and hot thermal step stress.

The second one is focused on humidity testing. Wood, being a “live” material, is highly susceptible to humidity, so it’s important to ensure the stability of the wood ring through different levels of humidity exposure. We must be confident about the ring being stable between the ring production and SANDSARA final assembly step.

Additionally, a stress analysis will be carried out on the whole product, being the main tests:

• Cool thermal step stress
• Hot thermal step stress
• Rapid thermal shock stress
• Vibration step stress
• Combined thermal and vibration stress
• Humidity stress

The HALT results will allow us to have certainty in terms of the lifespan of SANDSARA as a whole product. The integration of different materials in our product as the stainless steel mechanism, the wood ring, and the acrylic sandbed, makes it important to be sure of how these components will interact between them under different environmental conditions.

Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm! You'll be hearing from us again in two weeks.

Best,

The Sandsara Team

Wed May 5 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago – Wed, May 05, 2021 at 09:31:42 AM

Hello everyone,

We were thrilled to see many of you downloaded the app beta version! Thanks again to all of you who shared feedback. We received a lot of questions and comments regarding the creation of new tracks, so we’ll be explaining this in more detail:

How are patterns created?

You’ll have infinite possibilities of tracks with SANDSARA. First of all, it is essential to understand that a track is a single continuous vectorized path with different forms.

We could divide tracks into two major groups: algorithmic and freestyle. Algorithm tracks are generated using math or code base tools; the result tends to be a complex geometric pattern. Freestyle tracks tend to be more figurative; it uses more traditional hand-drawn methods.

Even though there’s a significant visual difference, the core principle is the same; they are composed of a single continuous vectorized path. And what is a vector? A vector is a directional line segment between points. A vectorized image is composed of vector lines instead of pixels; this means that no matter how much you zoom in, a vector image will never lose its clarity.

What files can SANDSARA read?

We designed the SANDSARA software to be compatible with most of the already existing programs. SANDSARA’s software is compatible with THR and BIN files. Theta Rho File (THR) contains an order list of all the points along the track. BIN files store the data of the tracks in binary format.

THR format

** description **: the THR format is a file that describes the points in polar coordinates. The trajectory from one point to another is done linearly, increasing the angle and distance between points.

In this mode, it is easy to draw curved paths, such as circles or spirals. For example, to draw a circle, you can move from module point 1, angle 0, to module point 1, angle 2pi. Straight paths must be described with many consecutive and closed points.

** format **: the file consists of all the points that describe the figure separated by line breaks (enter key). The point describes first its angle and then its module, separated by a space in each line.

** range **: angle → can be any number; module → goes from 0 to 1.

** Example **: an example of a file would be the following:

> 0.0000 1.00000

62.83185307 0.0000000

56.54866776 1.00000

69.11503838 0.0000000

This file draws a spiral from the edge to the center and then makes another spiral to the edge and finally spirals back to the center.

** note **: All Sisyphus files are .thr files, so, are compatible with SANDSARA.

TXT format

** description **: txt format is used to draw figures describing their points in Cartesian coordinates, unlike .thr format, straight paths are much easier to draw since you just need to write 2 points, and SANDSARA will draw a straight line from the first point to the second. Another difference is that curved figures such as circles or spirals must be described with many Cartesian points to complete the trajectory.

** format **: the file must contain the Cartesian points (x, y) separated by commas, and between each point, there must be a line break. The x, y coordinates are normalized, so you don't have to worry about placing the measurements in millimeters. The maximum range is 32.767, and the minimum is -32.767, where 0.0 is the center of SANDSARA.

** range **: x → goes from -32,767 to 32,767, y → goes from -32,767 to 32,767.

** example **: an example of a file would be the following:

> 10000,10000

-10000,10000

-10000, -10000

10000, -10000

10,000,10000

The file above draws a square.

BIN format

** description **: the bin format is normally used to send files from the mobile app to SANDARA as it essentially has the same format as .txt files, but the data is optimized to make the file lighter. Normally, all the files that are sent through the app are in .bin format.

How SANDSARA reads tracks?

SANDSARA is programmed to map all tracks to polar geometry, where each point has a position around the Center 0 and a Row, distance from the center 0 and the Edge 1. All tracks must start and end at either the Center or the Edge.

One of the easiest ways to make your own tracks is on Sandify. This tool allows you to create patterns and download them in .thr format easily. Here is a small tutorial we’ve prepared for all of you:

Thanks again for taking the time to read our biweekly updates; if you have any questions, please let us know!

Best,

The Sandsara Team

Wed Apr 21 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 09:41:59 AM

Wed Apr 7 '21 Announcement
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 07, 2021 at 04:37:42 PM

Hey everyone,

Here is the latest update on SANDSARA:

When we changed our communication strategy, we promised to publish biweekly updates to let you know where we are standing every step of the way. Even when the testing process can be slow and frustrating for many of us, we prefer to keep the periodic communication and not wait only for BIG news.

In the meantime of testing and sample production, our team has been working to improve the SANDSARA mechanism. These pieces have been finished in production, but we decide to polish tiny details in the main pieces to improve the whole product’s lifetime.

Improving SANDSARA'S core piece: The shaft

One of the most critical pieces of SANDSARA is the shaft because it is key for the correct movement of SANDSARA's main arm and the accurate drawing of patterns. While testing the mechanism over long periods of time and faster speed than normal operation, we noticed we could make an improvement in the grip between the shaft and the arm holder by adding grooves to the shaft.

This improvement will allow us to ensure the perpendicularity and stability between the sand bed and the rest of the components that conform the mechanism. It’s a small detail that increases our confidence in the guarantee of the product.

Head start on our next update

From the last update, we noticed that many of you had a lot of questions and doubts. That’s why we want to use our next update to clarify some of them. It’s essential for us to have open and transparent communication with you, so feel free to post any comment or doubt and we'll be happy to answer them in our next update.

Thanks for your support and for reading through our biweekly update!

Best,

The Sandsara Team

Wed Mar 24 '21 Announcement
about 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 10:22:57 AM

Hello guys,

Here’s our biweekly update on Sandsara’s production:

What happened with the in-house testing for the case?

This week we received the results from the aging testing of both case prototypes, and we are happy to announce that they worked great! These are good news for the original solid wood design, but, what we learned from the past is to increase our opportunities for success so we decide to take both alternatives to the next step, the production prototyping. In this stage production will be at a larger scale from the past batch but still small for the whole production. While testing both alternatives on a pre-production phase will be a little more expensive, we consider it totally worth it.

So what are the next steps?

We'll start working with our suppliers on solid wood and composite construction rings samples. The main difference between these samples and the previous ones is that now we'll use the final manufacturing processes on a larger scale. Moving forward with both alternatives will give us more feedback on the replicability in mass production and will make the next step for the production process much smoother.

After the samples are ready they’ll undergo an extensive testing process. Ten samples from each construction will be subjected to long-term lifespan testing, just as we did with our in-house tests. With these results, we expect to take the final decision on which alternative to go forward with.

Right now everything is running according to our timeline and we'll keep up working to keep it that way!

Best

The Sandsara Team