Category: Fabrication

 

 

 

 

Realistically, this was the most stressful project this semester. While Project 3 was time-consuming and involved quite a bit of modeling, this one required a major time crunch.

I had to leave before the fabrication of my design, but due to unfortunate circumstances, the MakerSpace monitors were able to cut out my design. Because of my absence, I was not able to due post-processing work, which I plan to finish at home.

At first glance, it may appear that I did not create non-objective art, as many of the objects are recognizable. However, many of these were abstracted versions. Each object was an extremely simplified version of the reference image, which often ended up as outlines. In addition, each of the sides and corners of the design were beveled using fillets, in order to generate a rounded shape and realistic geometry for molding. Furthermore, small details of the design were lost in fabrication, such as the guards. However, this seems like a happy accident, as it gives the mold a more abstract appearance. Due to the missing guard and rounded edges, I think the illusion of a dagger or knife is there, but it is not obvious.

I captured the motion of the piece using many techniques. The swords are crossed at a natural angle, which almost seems as people are holding them. In addition, the compass shape in the background acts as both the resulting clash and a star. Similarly, the key is set in a typical position for a wind-up toy, which may give a sense of turning movement.

My project as a whole, is a valid mold. This is due to the lack of undercuts, or places where the deeper parts of the design are wider than the shallow parts above them. In addition, every element of the design is placed at a straight angle, allowing for the mold to stay level and the pouring material to fill in every crevice. The mold itself is also much shallower than one would expect, due to time constraints. Once I retrieve the project, I plan to use some other carving tools to deepen the key shape, as well as give definition to the guards on the daggers, a detail that was lost in the CNC.

I chose the gray filament due to its warm tone and professional appearance, which resembles a prototype. The lighter color allowed small details, such as the scale texture to be seen easily without appearing strange. I felt that the white was too bright and would be difficult to keep clean, while the black would lose most of the details brought to life by the light color palate.

In the end, my project ended up at about 40 grams due to the inherent fragility of the necks. To support these, I used a thicker filament than typical, which made processing more time-consuming, but the project is stable.

In general, the entire concept of a reptilian creature is surreal. By using a plant model for the head, the small craters add another dimension of strangeness: are they eyes or deformities? Furthermore, the neck appears very thin and winding in a way only seen in snakes, giving it an illusion of motion. With this, one would think that gravity would be the enemy of this creature. In By changing the scale of the head non-uniformly in regards to the neck, I was able to create an impossible dimension biologically.

The Boolean operations were probably the most time-consuming aspect of this project, as each section had to be saved as an obj file and exported into Fusion 360 separately. Fortunately, when objects are imported directly, they retain their position in every axis. From there, I was able to combine join everything into one one body.

Sources:

Alligator Model- Thingiverse

Note: Model is under Creative Commons and is non-commercial

In my engraving demonstration, I converted my personal logo to an etch, reversing the design and thickening the vectors. Unfortunately, I was not able to fabricate my stamp in the MakerSpace, due to conflicts with time and scheduling for the laser. My plan was to use the finished stamp, along with an ink pad, to mark my signature on letters or other things. Instead, I have elected to print an image of the logo, applying an ink filter. Though it will not be credited, I plan to fabricate the stamp on the laser cutter once I return to Abington for the next semester.

In my laser cutting demonstration, I opted to go for the stacked slices version in order to capture the handle accurately. This allowed the With the egg-crate stacking, the details of the handle would have been lost, as the pieces would have been too thin to sustain the shape of the model. I used registration dowels in my model in two key locations in order to stabilize and center everything. With these, I was able to place each slice of corrugated cardboard in the correct place from all dimensions. In addition, the dowel locations were able to intersect almost every piece, excluding one or two slices that I centered manually.

For my logo, I decided to place it on my 3DS. I believe the black accents of the device compliment the black outlines of my logo design. In fact, the colors are almost identical, and had I created a slightly smaller logo size, I’m sure it would have appeared to be part of the device’s overall design. I am a bit old-fashioned, so I’m constantly gaming on this device. As such, I decided that it would be the perfect place to showcase my design. The only thing I dislike about the incorporation of the logo is that I didn’t get it completely centered, for fear it would cover the cameras, but I think the off-center presentation is not too noticeable.

For a time, I considered placing the logo on my laptop, but as my laptop- as well as almost every other device I own- is black, the logo would be almost invisible. To combat this, I suppose I could have reversed the color scheme and gone with either white vinyl, or switched the vectors so that the main image is black with the remainder the color of the background. However, this did not fit my original idea, and ruined the aesthetic I was going for.