CNC'ing

Modifying designss and expectations

It began with (what I thought) was a pretty cool idea... but I realized my 'inspiration' was not an actual functioning chair. So I switched it to something I thought was easier... This was my inspiration.

Moving from inspiration to design was difficult, as this was my first time using Rhino. I recieved a lot of help from classmates, Ines, James, Justin, and Chris who helped me overcome issues slicing a 3d image into flat pieces.

Unrolling the pieces was a manual process... and only after many hours did I realize my design would take up an absurd quantity of plywood sheets.

So... I took off an arm. one arm love seat anyone? The cut went wrong and I had somehow cut the inside instead of the outside of the line. Then, it went wrong again and delivered an onion skin even though it wasn't programmed. Finally I came back for a thrid time and got it right.

Here's what the pieces look like clamped together...

In order to make this work I would have to space out the pieces. To do this I used the bandsaw to cut individual pieces and speadthem out between the slices.

And it held up to my husband's weight!!!

That said, he did a good job of making it look perfectly balanced. I need at least 5 more pieces that angle down to a 90 degree angle on the opposite side of the chair to ensure it won't tip!