Category Archives: CNC Milling

The Area.

The Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is involved in a research project to transform the city of Barcelona in a Zero Emission city.

For that, an interactive model has to be fabricated, so design decisions can be made. In this tutorial, we will describe the step by step of how to send the 3D model of the barrios of Camp del’Arpa, La Sagrera, Congrés and Navas, to the milling machine so it could be milled.

After the model was printed in a high density foam, it was inserted in the model of the entire city of Barcelona. The scale of this model is 1/2000, and it will be used as a study model. A final interactive model will be built, and this will help in the design decision.

To view the step-by-step RhinoCam2 tutorial for this model, click on the link:

The Milling.

The Model.

GROUP:
Carolina Aguirre
Antonio Atripaldi
Hugo Carvallo
Mathew Owen

http://issuu.com/nat_arc/docs/tutorial_mil?viewMode=magazine

Foam Model …Horta Guinardo

Group Members

Andres Briceno   I   Siddhesh Kale   I   Jesus Armando Zabala   I  Ohad Meyhuyas

The Objective

The Aim of this exercise was to create a foam model of the barrios using the CNC Milling machine and learning the milling process.

The Process

Step 1: The zone assigned to our group (Horta Guinardo-Nou barris) consists of two hills and a mountain on the north west so we first prepared the terrain in rhino.

Step2: [...]

http://legacy.iaacblog.com/digitalfabrication/2010/12/07/foam-model-horta-guinardo/

Barrios: El Raval, El Gòtic, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina, La Ribera, La Villa Olímpica del Poblenou, El Poblenou, Diagonal Mar, Front Marítim del Poblenou

Students: Gamze Gunduz, Julian Hildebrand, Harshad Sutar, María Laura Molina Araujo, Antigoni Anna Anastasopoulou

For the fabrication of the mdf model through the laser cutter we created a 2D rhino file adapted in the map given to all the groups. We cleaned the useless lines and we kept only the ones to be cut and the ones to be engraved, having finally two layers.

For the fabrication of the foam model through the CNC Milling machine we created a 3D rhino file using the web for information regarding the divisions and the height of the buildings. We designed closed polylines, one for each building, organized in layers according to the number of floors and we extruded them by layer. We added the extrusion needed (3cm) for the base of the model and we transformed the polysurfaces into meshes. We finally divided our model, without cutting any buildings, in pieces and layouts according to the size the milling machine can accept.

After printing once we realized we needed to correct our digital file and reprint the model because of several reasons.

During the fabrication process the position of the model was changed by mistake having as result the missing of material in some points of the coast.

Also, there were some parts broken and some parts not well printed because of a problem of the machine which was then repaired.

Furthermore, we had to add a 3mm extrusion for the sidewalks required in order to make our part fit with the entire model and in order to have a better result in the non-built areas such as Ciutadella Park and coastline. In addition, we had to detail more a part of the model regarding the height of the buildings as well as redesign with more precision the buildings of great importance to make them easily recognizable.

Even if the new-final model was smooth enough and there was no need to be filed as the first one, in the coast the machine didn’t remove some material as it should have done, so this was done manually by filing with sandpaper this area.

Finally, in some cases the height of the buildings is not correct, not because of the digital file but because of the material used, that it hadn’t the required height.

rhino cam documentation:

http://legacy.iaacblog.com/digitalfabrication/2010/12/13/rhino-cam-documentation-for-foam-model-barrio-1_17_18/