The inspiration for this exercise came from the undulating scaled surface of fish skin. The geometry of the panel breaks from the repetitive nature of real fish scales by the introduction of a point of distortion. This point of distortion is further emphasized by using particular milling strategies.

In order to achieve the desired form, two milling finishings were used. The first strategy used was a parallel finishing. The tool diameter was 12mm ball mill with stepover control as 35% of the tool diameter. The spindle speed was set to 8077 and the cutting speed assigned was 15.24. The total time taken for this strategy was 70 minutes. The second finishing was a radial finish using the same 12mm dia ball mill tool with stepover control as 150% of the tool diameter. The cutting speed assigned was 15.24. The entire mat took 40 minutes to mill with this finishing.

The concept behind this investigation was to design a joint that was capable of a number of different motions; rolling, rotation, and expanding. These motions are further articulated when these individual units are connected to create a linear system. Each unit has a rotation limit of 355 degrees, which creates an interesting spiral effect once the system is fully expanded. As the units begin to rotate out, they consequentially expand in length by only 3 millimeters before the unit reaches its maximum expansion limit.

The joints are printed as a connected system and vary in terms of certain parameters. The differences in the arm widths allow for the connection between the joints have varying articulations. As the width of the openings get thicker, the joining of the two units becomes less visible, and at a certain point, becomes flush with the arm. As the width of the opening gets thinner, the connection between the two units becomes more visible and more flexible in terms of disassembly. The second parameter is the variation within the arm length, which creates a secondary visual motion through the implied undulating edges.