Week 2
2D Design and Cutting
Inspiration
For the press-fit construction kit assignment, I was very interested in exploiting the geometry of 3D shapes. In doing so I found myself wanting to construct a prototype of a stool of some sort. This is because I love hosting people in my suite, but I need some extra seating when I have a lot of guests. I drew inspiration from the icosahedron table shown to the left in creating a model of the stool.
Design
In order to construct a icosahedron shape, I needed to create triangular faces that could fit seamlessly with one another. In Fusion 360 I sketched the triangle with 4 notches on each side. To ensure a good press-fit, I made the notch width slight smaller than that of the overhang. After sketching the flat shape, I extruded the model and projected the face to be exported to the laser cutter. You can download the triangular face design here.
Construction
The cardboard used for the press-fit kit was approximately 3.6 mm thick, while the nylon board used for the icosahedron model was about 1.6 mm thick. Due to this discrepancy, the notches had to be adjusted for the nylong in order to achieve a seamless fit. While the cardboard pushed together easily, the nylon had considerably less friction. That is, the triangular faces cut from nylon did not hold together, so I used a plastic glue to piece the model together. The cardboard pieces were able to be constructed into both a circular and linear structure depending on how one placed them together, as shown below.
Additional Models
The two household Items I modeled were an anti-gravity illusion mug and a simple stool. I made use of the Fusion 360 Appearance tool to show what the items would look like if they were constructed using wood.
