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DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2015 M3 JOURNAL - CLOSE YOUR EYES

Thi Khanh Hoa Phan705931

Michelle James

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INTRODUCTION

After splitting from my group, I made sev-eral major changes to my design.

1. Keep the basic elementsI only adopted the basic structure of the design. I think the really cool part of our design is down to its very basic elements, which looks like boomerang shape. This element helps the design to gain its vari-ation in outward directions.

2. Redefine personal spaceDue to my observation, I realize that when someone’s vision is obscured, they tend to defend for their personal space by extending their arms in different direc-tions. The aim of my design is to visualize that extended space.

Initial design - when fully expandsisometric view

Initial design - when collapsesisometric view

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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT - PROPOSED DESIGN V.1

TOP VIEW

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

ISOMETRIC VIEW

FINISHING POINT

WHEN COLLAPSE

FULLY EXTENDED

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PROTOYPE DEVELOPMENT AND FABRICATION OF DEVELOPED PROTOTYPES

MAJOR CHANGES TO MY PROTOTYPE

FIRST PROTOTYPE

1. Shape of the basic elenmentUnderstanding that the curving structure was generated by the shape of the smallest elements, I decided to simplify that part by make it smaller and even-tually it looks much nicer than the previous one.

2. Material testing for bone structureI tested 3 types of materials for : boxboard, MDF and perplex. Analysis of ma-terial capacity is attached.

SECOND PROTOTYPE

3. Hinges optimisationI used different types of bolts and nuts to get the best effects.

4. Finishing points for armsI customized the finishing of the arms so that it looks nicer. This optimization can be seen at the final design.

5. Change the length of the handleAs I realized the length of the handle was quite long, it made the whole struc-ture more fragile and uncontrollable. thus, I decided to shorten it.

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THIRD PROTOTYPE

6. Different experiments with RULED surfaceWhen I felt more comfortable with strings, I was tempted to try more complex surface other than just regular lofting surface.

I experimented with different way of lofting surface and find that the reverse lofting was asthetically more attracting and complex, so I decided to go for that one.That was the biggest change in the final 1:1 protoype.

7. Experiments with different string typeI used 4 types of strings. At the final design, I did try to use elastic string. It worked fantastic at the beginning, but then broke. Thus, I then used the other one.

8. Big issues resolved after digital model was updated Digital model was updated, which let me realize there was inherent problems with the way I fabricated the design. After the digital design, the fabrication was much easier and more precise, produced my desired effects.

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There are 4 major types of fabrication processes including:- two dimentional fabrication - subtractive fabrication - additive fabrication - transformative fabrication

Implementation of digital fabrication on my design:

1. Two-dimentional fabrication allows the realization of DEVELOPABLE SURFACEAfter the reading, I found the developable surface really interesting, especially the ruled surface as it has the most direct connection to my design. I, thus, went on testing many ef-fect that I can produce with the skin.

2. The amount of prototype I was able to produce with the aid of laser cutterActually, I think my design is basically not so complicated so I just use the basic fabrication process, which is two-dimentional fabrication. My basic structure (hereby referred as the bone) was cut completely by laser cutter. Thanks to the machine, I was able to make large amount of prototypes in reletively short time (once a week).

3. With the fact that laser cutter can work with different materials, I was able to test my de-sign with boxboard, MDF and perplex (clear) It’s so nice that I can get all 3 materials cut at the same time and get to decide which mate-rial to go with in just 2 days.

4. ConstraintsAlthough laser cutter is quick and precise, It has many constraints. - MDF leave a really ugly marks at the back, which is an important reason why I tried to use spray. Yet spray texture was quite uneven. Thus, I decided to change to perplex. Perplex has a protective layer at the back, so it produces a nice finish on both sides of my design. - Sometimes it just did not work. I got this problem twice when not all my pieces were cut completely and I have to resubmit the job.

Architecture in the Digital Age - Design + Manufacturing/ Branko Kolarevic, Spon Press, London c2003

Briefly outline the various digital fabrication processes. Explain how you use digital fabrication in your design?

READING RESPONSE WEEK 6

Developable surface - Ruled surface

However, 2D fabrication has many constraints

Idea of ruled surface applied to design

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I think the most advatage of this type of method is it’s affordable and quick to get the pieces (1 day, compared to other method, 3D printing and CNC cutter an take 2-3 days).

1. Because it has certain thinkness, I have to use several pieces at the same position to get the desired thickness (strength)One dominant example from my design is the part that is attached to the body. This is a lesson learnt. I should have considered to use other fabrication method for this part at the early stage of the design process. My mistake is to frame the 2D cutter in my mind, and only design so that it’s cuttable with laser cutter. This proved to be inefficient and caused a lot of troubles during my fabrication pro-cess.2. The tiny holes are cut nicely and precisely that makes my fabrication process a lot easierThe little tiny holes I used for strings were cut nicely and precisely that I though I would be hard if I manually use drill or anything. And also, imagine that job was done manually, it will take a lot of time just to mark the position of the holes be-fore really cut them, and can not make sure whether they’re in the right position or not.

3. When it comes to joints and notches, it quickly becomes unexpectableBecause it’s 2D fabrication, when it comes to joints and notches, the problem is to get all the pieces connected at the precise position, or else it would not work. This, too, has affected my design a lot.

4. As I have to work with strings, it involves the precision in balancing forces. When I first tried to put the string in the design, I encountered many problems. - How to get the string through the hole. Because the diameter of the hole is 1mm, and the diameter of the string I used is estimated to be 3/4 of that size, it turned out to be quite challenging to pull it through. I was then, lightly burned the end of the string, and this method was efficient that in my final design, I was able to get the strings through a lot quicker than at the begin-ning. - During the process of fabricating the strings, I started to get comfort-able with this task. I tried different method to balancing the forces. - Fabricate each line (not efficient, because the knots is so visible) - Fabricate one half and then balance it with the other (failed) - use 1 string for the entire design (I use this method for my final design)

How does the fabrication process and strategy effect your second skin project?

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One of the most important shift in the use of digital technology from design to fabrication is COMPUTER NUMERICAL TECHNOLOGY (CNC).

This technology allows fabrication process to go straight from digital design to physical model. In the past, the procedure from a design to fabrication must include the representational draw-ings. One need to preject their design in plans, elevations and sections before actually fabri-cating the design.

This method proves to be out of date, because:

a, there are more and more projects aiming at realizing the unimaginable geometry, thus it will be extremely hard and unnecessary to produce representational drawings. And despite being projected correctly into drawings, they will probably be unreadable to proceed to fabrication.

b, the representational drawing itself is simply the data that is extracted from digital model and represented so that it is readable for construction. Nowadays, however, with the development of computer-aided design software (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) that can read such data, the process can go directly from digital model to physical result without the interference of human control.

Digital Fabrications: architectural + material techniques/Lisa Iwamoto. New York: Princeton Architectural Press c2009

Describe one aspect of the recent shift in the use of digital technology from design to fabrication?

READING RESPONSE WEEK 7

Computer aided modelling (not only create geometry, but create the log-ic behind it) - Parametric modelling

Computer aided fabrication (extract data from model, turn into machine

code and then fabricate)

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As Michael Speaks precisely put it, ‘Making become knowledge or intelligence creation. In this way think-ing and doing, design and fabrication, and design and final prototype become blurred, interactive, and part of a non-linear means of innovations’. The fabrication of early prototypes has greatly affected the way I designed.

1. It opened up many possibilites for development In the process of producing prototypes, I realized many opportunities to develop more complex geom-etry. For example, when I became comfortable with balancing the force of the string, I found that the ruled surface itself was quite simple and straightforward. Thus, I change my lofting surface so that it has more enhancing visual effects than the original one. Rhino is very useful because it not only create the geometry itself but also control the logic behind it. Thus, to subtly change the geometry, I did not need to recreate the whole thing, just gave my desired input and Rhino will automatically update the design.

2. It enabled me to make change to my design without worrying too much about precise calculation:At the beginning when I was not familiar with Rhino, I did not make the element precise, even in milimeter. This, however, was not a problem because whatever measurement I input, as long as I model it correctly, it will always fabricatable.

Referencing from the lectures and readings, what is the implication of digital fabrication on your design ?

I can go back and change the number of string lines to cope with desired effects in just a second. This helps my design fabrication process a lot easier

isocurve V= 10 isocurve V= 20 isocurve V= 40

With the aid of Rhino, I was able to fabri-cate the skin correctly in one go. Although the surface is quite ir-regular, I managed to understand the logic and thus the fabrica-tion process became a lot easier.

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PROTOTYPE OPTIMIZATION - STRUCTURE

This part of the design is very fragile because it has to hold the upward-extensive arm. Also, because the material here is not continuous (due to the hinge), so it tends to break apart.

This part of the design is very frag-ile and always has tendancy to break. In my early prototype, this part was the first element to break. The, during fab process of further prototype, I approached a differ-ent fabrication precedure, which prevent this part from moving in-

tenstively.

The hinges are generally stron-gest part. One important rea-son why I lofted the surface oth-er way round is to take ad-vatage of the strength of this part

The top end of the up-ward arm is extremely weak. Ideally, the arm should get smaller in size from beginning to end, resembles how the tree grows, or like the struc-ture of umbrella. I did try to reinforce this part by increase form 2 to 3 pieces, but eventually did not make big differ-ence.

This type of connection is relatively week. This part, however, is not a big concern because not much movement is happening here.

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This part of the design is weak due to the arm itself. Thus, this part will break if bal-ancing the force was not done properly

This part of the design is problematic. As the outer arms do not have any force to balance with the string, they tend to move inwards.

This part of the design is strongest part of the design, referred to the explainaition last slide. The design takes advatage of this part to hold the upward arm so that it holds at place

F FF

FF F

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PROTOTYPE OPTIMIZATION - MATERIALSFABRICATION PROCESS THAT OPTIMIZES MATERIAL USAGEThe cutting files were nested in such a way that optimized material usage and cutting time (by arranging position of elements as well as removing duplicate lines)

Some subtle refinements were made in the design so that it reduces cutting time and material waste.

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The cutting files were nested in such a way that optimized material usage and cutting time (by arranging position of elements as well as removing duplicate lines)

FINAL DESIGN

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FINAL DESIGN

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Front view Top view

Side view Isometric view

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FABRICATION SEQUENCE

a few pieces were broken

handles

first string line

broken string find the reason. It’s the material itself that did not work, not the

fab process

change material finish effect

finishing line a day later, string broke I tried to reconnect, but there were so many

arm when collapses arm when extends all good, proceed with the rest arms are connect with handles

I tried my best to avoid messy background in these backgroundbut fablab is indeed not ideal for taking photos.I fabricated the bone structure first (this page), and visualized the string fabrication process (next page)

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TOP VIEW

ISOMETRIC VIEW

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ASSEMBLY DRAWINGS +DETAILS

Skin - single string

0.7 mm rope

second arm3 levels of elements

perplex 3mm

first arm2 levels of elements

perplex 3mm

third arm2 levels of elements

perplex 3mm

handlesupper handle - lower handle2 pieces each - offset 4mm

3mm perplex

ASSEMBLY DIAGRAM OF COMPLETE DESIGN - ISOMETRIC VIEW

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DETAILS - ARM ASSEMBLY DIAGRAM

DETAILS - RENDERED IMAGES OF SECOND - SKIN PROPOSED DESIGN

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2nd Skin

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PHOTOS OF SECOND SKIN PROPOSED DESIGN ON BODY AND TESTING EFFECTS