HOW TO MAKE (ALMOST) ANYTHING
MAS.863 / FALL 2011

KELLY SHAW
M.ARCH LEVEL III

 

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01 / INITIAL PROJECT PROPOSAL

02 / LASER AND VINYL CUTTER

03 / PCB DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND ASSEMBLY

04 / WATERJET CUTTER AND CNC MILLING

05 / UPDATED PROJECT PROPOSAL

06 / MOLDING AND CASTING

07 / EMBEDDED PROGRAMMING

08 / 3D SCANNING AND PRINTING

09 / INPUT DEVICES

10 / OUTPUT DEVICES

11 / INTERFACE AND APPLICATION PROGRAMMING

12 / MECHANICAL AND MACHINE DESIGN

13 / NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATIONS

14 / FINAL PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

15 / FINAL PROJECT

 

 

 

 

 


WEEK 02 / LASER AND VINYL CUTTER



INSPIRATION FOR KIT-OF-PARTS: Bucky Fuller's Geodesic Dome

bucky fuller



DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF HUBS AND CONNECTORS

Drawing 1


LASER CUTTING

1,

Testing the material (SPEED / POWER)

initial image TestCut

2.

Material testing: The connector ends had a very small chamfer but what really made
a difference was the grain of the cardboard when I cut the material. There was
more rigidity in one direction vs. the other. In the images below, the one on the left
was weaker in its length and the corrugation crushed more easily when being fitted
into notches. I chose to go with the grain on the right for strength but there was a
tradeoff as I would later experiment and find out that the right grain was better for
introducing curvature to the 6 module configurations.

one grain 2nd grain

3.

Testing the module and its crossbracing: I realized after this test that I had left out
6th notch in the connector hub and had to tweak some of the connector lengths.

test pieces

4.

The whole test file being cut. For the DWG file click here.
cuttinglasercutter file

5.

Laying out the pieces and putting it all together,

pieces

modules

6.

Finished pieces put together. I was hoping to actually make a whole geodesic dome
or sphere but I ran out of time. In the end I might have been able to achieve it with
longer connectors and experimenting more with using the other grain. When you
lift the center of the construction up, there starts to be a bend but I think it would have
taken ALOT more time to keep going with the existing pieces!

closeup

zoom out



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