computer-aided design

X-Bee wearble housing

This week I decided to design a press fit wearble housing for the xbee component towards my envisioned final project. I used a Vectorworks  (http://www.vectorworks.net ) which is the 3D modeling and drafting programme we teach the Spatial design students here at Massey University, School of Design. It has the ability to export in many formats including STL and EPS, which makes it useful for digital fabrication.

For those interested, here is a link to a video tutorial I made that covers the very basics of modeling in Vectorworks, https://vimeo.com/10837737. You will see later in my blog that I have used it succefully to create files for output to the shotbot, laser cutter and 3D printers.

 

I started by scanning the components I wanted to house.

 

 

Next I imported in the scanned image into Vectorworks using the 'import image' function and began to shape a 3d model around the components footprints.

I experimented with a few different forms untill I had something that was around the right size and shape for a wearable object.

I plan to use this model in the next assignment and fabricated it as a press fit assembly, this will be a good way to quickly test what its like to wear the hardwear on the body.