11. Wildcard Week

 The assignment this week is to incorperate a machine we haven't used yet into the production of a digital design.

Plans

 When I first saw the options we had I was thinking about what would be best for a quick project I could do while I worked of previous pages and got ready for staying on campus past finals. One that stood out to me and that I really wated to try was the Shaper, as it could make just small designs in a custom made workspace or a near infinate area using special tape. My origonal plan was to make a mug holder with a space in the middle for drink packets or napkins but I eventually realized that would be too complicated and would have been better suited to make with the CNC we had. This left me with a much more simplistic idea of using the shaper to sign my name in a block of wood which was much more ideal for the shaper workspace compared to the big CNC.

Final output

 To use the Shaper we had to scan the workspace, this would ensure the Shaper knew where it was while carving designs. The workspace scan however does have one downside of not updating until you scan again, as the camera is pointed out in front of the shaper, so you have to make sure you don't change the workspace. The scaning process is relatively straight forward, keeping the Shaper level you need to slide the camera over the area you intend to cut as well as an overhange so the Shaper is always in the workspace.  Scaning:





 Then we set up the workgrid by finding the bottom left corner of our piece of wood and placing a few nodes along side and bottom.  Grid:





 I then used the Shaper to sign my name in the wood, ensuring that a blue dot representing the drill bit, and the shape I was working on, stayed in a circle representing the drill's movable area. I even added a period to test how detailed the Shaper could be.

Group Work:

 There was no real group work other than when we were taught how to used the machines, as those who wanted to use a certain machine, like the resin printer, were all taught together.

Useful links

None for this week.