Assignments Goals

• Design and make a corrugated cardboard press-fit construction kit
• Design and make something with the vinyl cutter

Week's Lectures

Parametric Design

When I started this week assignment I was lacking an idea on what I would have designed and built. I kept thinking "I need an idea!", and probably that's why I ended up with the best symbol of an idea: a lightbulb!

I started my design in Rhino, using a panelImage to have a png on the x/y plane. That way, I was able to draw an excellent half outline of the bulb. Then I mirrored the outline to obtain a full 2D drawing of my bulb. Finally I used the offset function and some join and trim to get the final outline.
Click on images below to view them full size.

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After I was happy with my 2D design of the bulb I tried to revolve it around the Y axis, so to have a draft of what it would be in 3D. The result was satisfying, according to me.

Then I started my parametric design in Grasshopper. My FabLab instructor was very helpful and addressed me in the right direction, giving me some really useful advices.

The first parameters I focused on was the material thickness, the kerf and the chamfer, and therefore the dimension of the joints. To draw the joint (half of it actually) I had to use a couple of move block, then I mirrored it.

Another parameter that I thought could be useful, is the number of arms composing the external outline of my bulb. That parameter is used to divide the inner circle in an equal number or arcs. And those intersections are used to position the joints previously generated. To rotate it in the right direction, I used a block to calcolate the angle between the center of the circle and the number of arms divisions.
Click on images below to view them full size.

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Finally I replicated the small inner circles 3 times, and the bulb arms according to the arms parameter. That way I could easely change the numbers of arms using the slider, as you can see in the images below.

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Below you can find the whole Grasshopper graph, in high definition

Work files links

Laser Cutting

After exporting the design in DXF format, it was time to use the laser cutter!

Out instructor taught us a lot of useful things, such as maintenance procedures to clean and calibrate the machine, and then told us how to operate the machine. It was my first time but after half an hour I had learned all tha basics to cut my design. After all, it's really simple if you know what you should do!

The machine I used is a WorkLine WL1290, 120W Co2 Laser. So I put a piece of plywood on the working area, focused the laser beam, changed the default values for speed and power and started the job.
Here I used power: 75%, speed: 60mm/sec

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I was really excited for the result, my first laser cut product ever! I tried to fit every piece, but sadly I noticed that joints didn't form a snug fit. That was because I set up my parametric design to use a 4mm thickness material, but the plywood used was a 3mm one. So, lesson learned: "Always double check what you're doing!.

Then I modified the parameter in Grasshopper, re-exported the dxf and re-executed all the steps to cut with the machine. Second run was perfect, and I managed to press-fit my lightbulb, and the joints were really snug.

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Work files links

Assignments Outcomes

• Demonstrate and describe parametric 2D modelling processes
• Identify and explain processes involved in using the laser cutter
• Develop, evaluate and construct the final prototype

Have you:

explained how you drew your files
shown how you made your press-fit kit
included your design files and photos of your finished project

Vinyl Cutting

For my final project, at the moment I have no use for the vinyl cutter. But I wanted to learn how to use it anyway, so I choose a symbol to create a sticker with it.

Since my project have something to do with lasers, I thought it could be nice to have a laser warning sticker. So I searched on Google Images a nice picture of a laser symbol. I found one that seemed nice enough and that could be traced easily so to create a vector image from it.

I used the Trace Image and Expand feature of Adobe Illustrator in order to generate paths from it.

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The vinyl cutter in our FabLab is a Roland CAMM-1 Servo GX-24, and it's really easy to use, because once the driver is installed, it's considered as a simple printer.

So I loaded the vinyl sheet in the plotter using the specific command on the machine, and I issued the print command, directly from Illustrator. The procedure went smooth at the first try.

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To transfer the sticker on the target surface, you have to use a particular sticky transparent film. In that way the sticker can be safely trasferred from the original film, to the surface you want to apply it on.

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Work files links

Assignments Outcomes

• Identify and explain processes involved in using this machine
• Design and create the final object

Have you:

explained how you drew your files
shown how you made your vinyl project
included your design files and photos of your finished project