Category: fabrication

For my Intro to Fabrication class final, I was a bit lost. My first inclination is to do something that mimics the aesthetics of butterflies, but I wanted to do something functional instead. Making pretty things is cool, but making pretty things that have a function is even cooler.

The first direction I explored is making a wooden phone case for my iPhone 5s.

The first thing I wanted to know about is the dimensions of said case. After a bit of googling, I found out that Apple has a publicly available document that has exact specifications of all its iDevices, as shown in the image above.

After playing around with (found) 3D models, I ended up with a pretty basic sliced model of the iPhone case that I wanted to cut using cardboard to get a sense of.

After multiple failed runs, where the size was either too large or too small, the whole thing felt ugly and uninspired. I had to change direction, I felt.

 

I started by playing around with basic shapes in Illustrator, as well as think about materials I want to work with. Acrylic is always my first choice, so no to that. Cardboard is great, but sort of rugged. I went to Staples and found the amazingness that is foam board. They come in all sort of beautiful colors, including a pleasant shade of muted gray as well as the blackest black possible.

The whole thing was an exercise in drawing modular, exchangeable shapes that are all based on the same basic shape. I felt better in this clean, simplified direction. By now I knew what I wanted to make: a penholder with an architectural appearance.

After a bit more experimentation, I went ahead and laser-cut the shapes in my newly acquired foam board.

The above was made using the gray foam board. I also used the black foam board for a more striking look.

After trying different arrangements, I felt the below is best because it’s orderly, asymmetrical and proportional.

 

After adding a bit of color, the below is the final assembled piece in all its functional (and nonfunctional) glory.

For this fabrication project, I decided to make an old dream come true by constructing some sort of a dashboard with buttons, knobs, and user interface details. The parameters of this project is a to build an enclosure with the needed components within and without. Since I am not sure what function I am looking for at the moment, I will design the inside of the enclosure as one that fits an arduino board + wires.

“MOOD BOARD”

To begin with, I started with collecting images that I like of real and fictional dashboards. I was after the retro look for some reason; it is much more aesthetically interesting than the usual hi-tech dashboards.

More specifically, I found the clean, minimalist visual style of the below Intellivision II design the most attractive. Especially with all the sharp lines and the minimal color.

SKETCHING

This project required an intensive sketching phase as there are many considerations for shape, measurements, and fixtures.

The first goal at this stage were to find out what kind of “components” I was looking for, first in terms of shapes, then in terms of actual manifestations. For instance, I started with thinking that I want a keypad-like thing, which translated into a matrix of square LED-buttons that are sold in Sparkfun. Another component is a round UI element, which perfectly stands for a readily available knob. For some instances, I will probably have a filler component (in paper? acrylics? Don’t know yet), as with the idea of having an LCD-like component.

Another important aspect is defining the shape of the enclosure, which is rectangular. In addition, the dimensions of each component chosen were used to come up with the dimensions of the enclosure. A good exercise was sketching the “net” design for the model as if it was made out of contagious paper pieces, to get a sense of it (and possibly prototype it). The net design can be seen on the lower part of the left page in the photo above.

I did my best with the “fixtures” at this stage. I have no concrete idea about their dimensions as of yet, so I had to make do.

COMPONENTS

Next was the ordering of the components as was decided in the above step. I ordering the following components from SparkFun:

PLATE DESIGN

I then used Illustrator to design the main plate, as well as two sub panels that will make up the dashboard and the surface of the enclosure. At this stage I have no concrete idea about the material, but regardless of that, this exercise helps tremendously in having the arrangement of the components on the surface to be rational and sound. A great resource for this stage was SparkFun’s product pages which had drawings of the components with measurements.

PROGRESS

The furthest I could reach in this project this week was to have both panels cut (one for the “LCD-like component” plus three switch buttons, and another for the 4×4 LED button matrix). I also have in place my enclosure (which is, again, a maple wooden canvas—it’s quickly becoming my favorite material), and a panel made of black-painted masonite (scratch) board.

I don’t have any fixtures in place, but hope to get a few by the weekend.

A field trip was in order, and the destination was Lightning Plus, a lighting-related boutique that sells lamps, LEDs, bulbs, fixtures, and pretty much everything related to electronic light.

I was to pick an inspiring object.

I am very attracted to the shape of the original, incandescent light bulb. It is a timeless system of chemistry and physics: the wire filament enclosed within produces light when it is heated, and a gas is often contained within the glass shell of the bulb to protect the filament from breaking.

The particular model above was made to evoke the nostalgic, steampunkish original appearance, specifically invoked by the spiral filament. The one below is a smaller, contemporary bulb and is just as charming.

My first project as part of the Intro to Fabrication course is to make an operating flashlight.

My first step was to figure out what constitutes, electronically, a flashlight.

Simply put, the simplest flashlight I can make is, a bulb or an LED, either two serially connected AA batteries, or  a single D battery (depending on the voltage requirement of the bulb), a switch mechanism, and the connecting wires.

From there, I had to get the parts I needed. A shopping list was put together as seen in the right side of the image above. After a trip to Radio Shack and Home Depot, I distilled the needed components for the circuit portion of the flashlight as in the following photo.

I chose to go with a bulb (in this case a 2.2V bulb) instead of an LED because I felt that it will be easier to handle, tape, etc., and because to me it is aesthetically much more pleasing.

My next step was to “assemble” the circuit, which in my case meant to use electric tape generously to get to a stage where I can see some sort of lighting.

It worked. I had to note that the bottom battery has to be sufficiently supported below to ensure that the wire touching it is in contact with the surface.

My next steps were to design the enclosing body.

However, Ben kindly directed me below to use some sort of a battery holder. I happened to have one in hand, and the “circuit” has been remade to accommodate it.

For the enclosure, I started by experimenting with my new found ability of drilling holes into wood. I just wanted to get a feel for it.

Then I proceeded to measure the two holes I need to drill to: hold the bulb, and allow one of the wires to selectively switch the light on and off.

I decided to use maple wood pieces sold as canvas boards in art supply stores. I opted to go with them because of their availability in different sizes (I am not yet confident enough to cut large wood pieces into smaller ones), as well as their smooth, occasionally painted finishing.

I used standard 3/8 and 1/8 drill bits to drill holes in a particular wood piece that was glued to smaller wood pieces at each edge to form a hollow cube.

I glued the battery holder on another piece of wood that had the same dimensions as the faces of the cube piece.

I then taped the red wire generously to ensure that it touches the base of the bulb.

The below assembled flashlight (now more of a rustic table lamp, really. But it does fulfill the basic criteria for a flashlight, one can argue. It is portable, and is battery powered).

The switch mechanism is very basic (non-existent really), but it does light up. so I’m grateful.