Computer-Controlled Cutting

The realization that my last geometry lesson was eight years ago

The initial push for this project design, the cardboard-feathered-fan (bear with me here) came from looking at previous years' awesomely geometric designs and going "... I don't think I can even wrap my head around that right now".

Thinking in 2D -> 3D was a new concept for me after working in strictly one (digital painting) or the other (3D sculpting). As a result, I wanted to start from something I was familiar with and could reduce to fairly simple geometric shapes, which meant "no human figures, unless in silhouette". The feathered fan was simple enough, consisting of a handle, a "hilt", and feathers, but still had some complexities in its design, such as attaching the feathers to the hilt and making sure it wouldn't fall apart when used as a fan. Furthermore, it was the traditional accessory of a historically revered Chinese minister known for his intelligence and inventiveness, and I figured it'd be a good way to start off the semester .

(Alternatively, I just think feathered fans are really cool. Take your pick.)

The Building Process

I started with a few Amazon boxes I had lying around, and cut out pieces to make sure I had a basic understanding of how cardboard worked when slotted together. The below image shows the initial design and the first handle.

The handle in pieces. I used two vertical pieces on the sides to provide a stronger base for attaching the feathers to, as I was afraid having only a single vertical piece would lead to bending.

For the second iteration and the first using the actual laser cutter, I added a second vertical piece to the sides to provide even more support, and included two "hilt" pieces which I'd use to cover up the joint between feathers and handle. Here I ran into the traditional problem of "why won't this @#%(!* cardboard fit into the perfectly .166in slot?", and had to fix it for the final version by rounding the corners of all the slots.

The finished handle was about as sturdy as a brick (and survived being squished around in my backpack for a day), but was a little misaligned.

For the final iteration, I decreased the length of the handle, increased the size of the slots, rounded their corners, and added in the feathers. There are three layers of feathers, staggered between the two layers of cardboard on the handle and fixed by a slot connector, as shown below.

Index