Week Fourteen: Composites
The assignment for this week is to design a fiber composite. I studied the quality of this fiber composite a bit, and see that it is in fact one way to create something hard. This was really to my surprise, a fiber composite can be even harder and stronger than a casting. I thought about anything hard that I wish I can reproduce. Mongolian Bao soon came into my mind. Mongolian Bao is one half sphere construction. It is firm and has a some variation regarding its shape. Some of them look more like pyramids, and some of them have pedals on the bottom. I want to make a hard half sphere which can be even stronger than a Mongolian Bao!
I did a revision of 3D design after Anders asked me to design a 3D shape made out of wax or foam. I use blender to create another sphere, and use MDX-40 to do the cutting. I transform my stl to two rml files, which are rough cut and finish cut. Then I get my 3D shape cut out of a whole foam.
-
Step1: This is what a Monglian Bao looks like
-
Step 2: I use blender to create a sphere
-
Step 3: I use blender to cut the sphere into a half
-
Additional Step: I use blender to create another sphere layer by layer
-
Additional Step: I use foam as the raw material and MDX-40 as the machine
-
Additional Step: I cut the foam out
After completing the 3D design of the sphere, I started to cut the fiber into different pieces. In order to make a strong composite. The fiber should be placed in a twisted way. By saying twisted, I basically mean that every layer has to be placed or turned to another direction in order to prevent the water-penetration. I blend two coumpounds with the ratio of volumes 3 to 1 and stick one piece of fiber to another. In the end, I use the vacuum cleaner as usual to vacuum the air inside the bag.
-
Step 4: The Mongolian Bao shape
-
Step 5: The fiber cut
-
Step 6: The stiring of compound
In the end, I successfully made a mongolian Bao, which is tough like a nut. I am quite sure that the Mongolian would have won the battle against the Han more easily if they realized the strength of this digital fabrication technique.
-
Step 7: The part of vacuuming
-
Step 8: The angle from the bottom
-
Step 9: The angle from the top