HOW TO MAKE (ALMOST) ANYTHING
MAS.863 / FALL 2011
KELLY SHAW
M.ARCH LEVEL III
03 / PCB DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND ASSEMBLY
04 / WATERJET CUTTER AND CNC MILLING
11 / INTERFACE AND APPLICATION PROGRAMMING
12 / MECHANICAL AND MACHINE DESIGN
13 / NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATIONS
WEEK 02 / LASER AND VINYL CUTTER
INSPIRATION FOR KIT-OF-PARTS: Bucky Fuller's Geodesic Dome
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF HUBS AND CONNECTORS
LASER CUTTING1,
Testing the material (SPEED / POWER)
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.
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.
4.
The whole test file being cut. For the DWG file click here.
5.
Laying out the pieces and putting it all together,
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!
