Week 0 + 1

An introduction to iteration.

I took this class with the understanding that I was a beginner in most of the concepts we were going to learn. I studied graphic design and minored in computer science in undergrad (i am a terrible coder). I knew there was going to be a learning curve but I was ready to compensate for that with time spent out of class in the Lab or talking with TA's at recitations. Beyond learning fabrication techniques I was also very interested in understanding the way Neil structured his course to be useful for people from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels. I was also recommended to take this course by every MIT person I encountered.

Parametric design process

After sketching many ideas throughout the week and scratching out most of them because they were either too ambitious and my 3D modeling skills were not refined or they did not fit the parametric design instructions given to us. I settled on attempting to design a flower shaped lamp. After watching many fusion360 tutorials on Youtube, I began by sketching 3 different 9 petaled flower shapes on 3 different planes. At the same time I used the measurements of my lightbulb as the size constraints.

I then extruded the the 3 flower sketches into a single body. I know this sounds super simple, but it took me many hours to figure out. After extruding I cut out a round hole in the center of my body to the size of my lightbulb.

I followed a YouTube tutorial and downloaded Slicer for Fusion360. Slicer is no longer actively updated by autodesk but the 2017 version worked just fine for me. I plugged my design into slicer and played with the settings until I settled on something that looked interesting but also easy enough to assemble. I included offset and cardboard width in the constraints. I was able to export the plans for my design as a .dxf and the lamp was ready to be laser cut!!!

Plugged my design in and got to cutting my flowers. DO NOT be fooled. This also took forever to get right (thank u Claire for your help)

Assembly is pretty self-explanatory. I mashed cardboard together till it fit.

The lamp truly shined (pun intended) when I put the lightbulb inside. Although from the outside it might resemble more of a pinecone, the shadows it creates definitely look like flowers.

Next up is vinyl cutting!

Figuring out how to run the mods connected to the Roland cutter.

Its working I think...

jk.

Flowers to stay on theme.

Voila!