L.O. (Learning Objectives) Week 7:¶ ¶ • Generate ideas of something big • Design something big • Test the design of something big • Mill something big • Assemble something big • Reflect on Possibilities and Improvements moving forward 7.0. Notes during the class and workshops:FABLAB¶ • Tooling: o Coatings Uncoated endmills are cheaper than the coated ones o Up/Down cut Start with Up-cut Finish with Down-cut o Flat/Ball end Start with Flat End Finish with Ball End But it makes sense only when working on hands Flat end mill can make smooth surfaces On the bottom, Flat Endmill gives a flat surface, while Ball Endmill gives a curvy surface. • Speeds and Feeds: o Cut depth how far the path is o Step over Vary the Step Over, trading over time on how good/smooth the surface is • Toolpaths: o Three main toolpaths: 1. Profile: cut 2. Pocket: cut with wings 3. Drills: engrave circles to drill (fixture role) o +Joint, Routing(3d cutting) • Sacrificial Layers, Squaring o From the bottom: 1. Sacrificial Layer -> 2. Layer that will be used o Making sure the machine is “square” (?) In order to do so, the machine needs to be updated periodically. Making sure the angles are accurate Especially important – when it comes to making joints that need to be assembled after the cut. • Joint Test (Prototyping) o Make sure the tolerance and the structure of each joint is great enough. o Cut out the portion that has joints, rather than the whole design. o Please test. o We shouldn’t need nails o Glue • Limits of CNC Machine (ShopBot) o Cannot cut in Undercut (angle of the cut) o Cannot cut Thin material (thickness) o Cannot cut Internal design e.g. captured part o Cannot cut something bigger than bed size o Cannot cut an object/design that is smaller than the diameter of the endmill (4mm) o Cannot cut “square” holes Safety is much more important this week!!! • You need to know what to do when emergency occurs. • You never do this alone – EVER! o There needs to be people who can keep an eye on you. • You don’t do it when you’re rushing • You need to do it when you can work sanely • You’ll go through safety training. Safely. Properly. 7.1. Generate ideas of something big:¶ Outcome: • This is a drawing of an updated version of my final project. It shows the bones of the structure. For this week, I intend to make the top part, except the bottom, because I think it is important to see if the curve shape – which requires kerf structure – works and if it is what I want in actuality. Process to reach this point: • In order for me to think of the design that has an entrance where a person can go through, I had to go deep in terms of which visual image, as well as which flow of human movement, I want for the design. • Abstract thinking was highly stimulated in the process. • Essentially, I wanted an “egg” shape. • However, I had to change into a flower or lotus flower shape, because it is “makeable” on the CNC machine (Shopbot). • Portable Structure. • I wanted the “wall”s that surround the whole shape to be foldable to be portable. • Nevertheless, it was too challenging for me for this week’s work and my current knowledge in engineering and design. I just decided to several parts that I can assemble anywhere I go. • Instead, I came up with the idea of using a sheet of cotton, like those used in a camping tent, to increase the sense of comfort for the user who will go inside the structure and sit down. 7.2. Design something big:¶ Outcome: • Four petals – three with a hole inside it, and one full board. • I will put a cotton sheet on each hole. Process to reach this point: • I will need to find a way to attach a cotton sheet on each petal shaped wood. • Craig later advised me to think of using stapler and/or glue. 7.3. Test the design of something big -- 1:¶ Outcome: • I made a small version using a piece of cardboard and a laser-cutter. Process to reach this point: • “Invalid color code” warning message appeared (blue) even when I set everything correctly. This issue was resolved by using green instead of blue. I do not know what the exact problem was with the software, but everything went fine after that. • The kerf part – which is required for the curve shape – took quite a long time. I am not sure if it is a great idea to solve this at all, so I did not attempt to change anything about the time duration for cutting. (laser cutting) 7.4. Test the design of something big -- 2:¶ Outcome: • I just finished cutting the test version for various shapes of kerf for the curve shape. Process to reach this point: • Problem that I faced: the time estimate for cutting the whole test joints and kerf shapes was over 3 hours. Therefore, after asking Craig, I decided to increase the "pass depth" from 2 to 3, as well as increase the overall speed from 6000 to 9000. I would not do this for my final version because there would be a high risk of getting a rough finish on the wood after the cut. Since this version is just for testing the angles of bending each kerf shape and testing the joint shape, I have decided to less priortize the quality of cut. (I did consider the safety part though :)) • This is the result of this test. 7.4. Mill something big:¶ Outcome: Process to reach this point: • 7.5. Assemble something big:¶ Outcome: Process to reach this point: • 7.6. Possibilities and Improvements moving forward:¶ Outcome: Process to reach this point: • 7.7. Debugging (March 16th recitation):¶ Outcome: Process to reach this point: •