Computer controlled machining

Lots of ideas...and brain freeze

Somehow I got totally stuck with this assignment. I have lots of ideas, but nothing that I managed to work out. It is quite interesting to experience. I am thinking about all kinds of possibilities. However, integrating everything I've learned last week and at the same time developing an idea from thought to finished product in one (mental) go, is too much. So in a sense, a good learning experience to run into all these obstacles that are keeping me from moving forward now.

And I know what needs to be done: just get on with it, small steps.

Sketches

Here are some of my ideas:

Update: prototyping an idea

Somehow, working on another assignment helped me to get unstuck on this one. I think what happened is that having something else to work on, took the pressure off of having to come up with something for this assignment.
The idea that stuck in my head is making something that can hold itself in place without additional parts. In this case, I was thinking about fixing a part in place by applying three forces onto it: two on either end in one direction, and another between those in opposite direction.
I'd like to make something elegant that looks fragile, but is actually quite strong. The idea I have is to use three rings to fix standing ribs in place to form the skeleton of a bucket, a lamp or table.

Using the lasercutter I made several iterations of the design. I believe I am getting to a stage where I am going to make a half-size version on the shopbot to get a better feel for the dimensioning with the material I want to make the end piece in.

Here the design had too much flexibility.

I experimented with the tolerance and positioning of the slots for the middle ring and I found a better design that is now much more rigid.
to be continued...:)