Week 4: Make Something Big
Carrying Case...Laptop Holder
Fall 2015
This week, we were tasked with making something big. We had 48" x 48" x .45" OSB (oriented strand board) to work with. I started one project, but then, due to time (I realized last minute that I had an assignment in a different class that was due earlier than I remembered), I switched to a less ambitious project. The overly-ambitious project was a carry case for my final project, complete with lids, dowel-hinges, and a rotatable handle. After realism struck, I switched to a less complex project -- a 4-piece, laptop stand.
The motivation behind the carry case was to have something to carry my final project in; the motivation behind making a laptop stand was to have a stand for the laptop that will interpret the EEG produced in my final project (as well as generally for my personal use). Both projects are useful.
The carry case would have looked like something like this:
the dream - carry case
http://www.shopbottools.com/files/Projects/Shoe_Butler_Tutorial.pdf
Before I gave up on this first project, I used the big shopbot to cut out my three pieces -- the bottom and sides of the carry case. It worked well! There were two 22" x 11" and one 24" x 11" pieces.
This is the design in Illustrator.
These are the carry case pieces cut out
Using the Shopbot was pretty fun...Someone else's hands here, not mine, but doing a great job modeling what you should never do while the Shopbot is running:
The VCarve software is in the background. It took in PDFs, so I just used Illustrator for the designs.
Also, I bought all the dowels and the four ΒΌ " 5 hole x /8 "dia. washers. So, the ingredients are ready to go! I'll just need to put them together and cut the lid pieces out later. Again, too ambitious for this week's time contstraints.
Ok, onto the second project -- the laptop stand (only 4 pieces => much simpler project).
This is the inspiration -- you can see more at http://www.instructables.com/id/Laptop-Stand-Cut-with-Shopbot/:
the new dream - laptop stand
Not satisfied with their design (it was for a different sized laptop and the angle would have been too high for my preferred ergonomics), I designed my own version in Illustrator.
Unfortunately, the dimensions were wrong when I double-checked my own laptop - turns out that my Macbook pro actually has these dimensions:
Width: 14.13 inches (35.89 cm)
Depth: 9.73 inches (24.71 cm)
So, the laptop stand I would have designed would have been too square while my laptop is much wider than it is deep, not to mention that, more importantly, the pieces wouldn't fit together well -- I needed to re-measure and alter the inserts. Another problem...there was a long line for the Shopbot which I didn't factor in.
One fun aside: I was curious what my friends would come up with when I challenged them to think of building something big. Here's what they had to say!
friendsourced ideas for something big - part1friend-sourced ideas for something big
Design files for these two projects: