The exercise aims  to understand the various aspects of milling machine, the ability for it to make an architectural detail and to understand its constraints on design.  Focusing on the use of milling tools in order to get specific forms, the exercise was to design a hexagonal tile of size that would be tangential to the points given so as to create a seamless repetition of patterned designs thus the pattern should allow rain water to flow seamlessly in order for it to make its way out of the pattern.

Design:

The concept and the goal of the pattern is to create a seamless flow on organizing curvilinear lines, this is achieved  by the use of different levels of curvilinear pattern linked to each other, it is derived and inspired from a series of abstract patterns that were extracted to study water flow thus from diverse animal patterns seen on different kinds of animals and organisms. This pattern works as rainwater collector diverting excess water to a specific area when interconnected for the reason that each lines are levelled up to bottom, sloped gradient from higher centre of tile to the lower edges. Coming from the middle point of the tile, when channelled to each other it creates a slide through and through, so that water are collected into a specific area. The extruded lines also creates a rough surface that has the capability to trap dirt, for safety reason the pattern is designed as a non slip surface.

Process:

The process initiated various curvy linear lines within the hexagon and whereby understanding the flow patterns, further this lines arranged at different levels to get a clear idea of water flow, then with the help of 3d modelling various curves were examined and its flow were studied. This patterns were tested with the help of CAD-CAM stimulation and milling tools, giving a clear idea of actual formations. Hence a final prototype was derived through it and milling G-Code were exported. This G-codes were feuded in milling machine. The milling was done on 50mm Thick Styrofoam. Through intensive milling, a foam mould for casting tiles was produced. In order to cast a concrete tile the mould surface was finished with Vaseline so that the concrete won’t stick to the mould and multiple tiles can be produced through single mould. Further it was poured with concrete and dried for 12 hours. The tile was taken out from the mould and settled for another 12 hour in order that it is completely dried out. The process was repeated and multiple tiles were casted. The Vaseline on tiles was cleaned through water and finally tiles were dried and polished.

Renderings:

When designing the pattern for our tile, we examined the behaviour of raindrops, and the effect they have when hitting the tiles of Barcelona.

Creating ripples in the concrete, we duplicated the intricate patterns of the raindrops within our design. These patterns flow through the four tiles that we created. Using a variety of larger and smaller scale curves, these spirals join together to form one continuous pattern.

This liquid surface was then imported into RhinoCam where it was adapted to the form and dimensions of the tile. RhinoCam was used in order to create the spiral effect on the tiles surface.

Once this stage was complete, the milling process begun. From the produced mould, we then filled it concrete and allowed it to dry, resulting in four intricate tiles.

In the final process, we experimented with various ways to polish the tile by applying wax, oil, polish and a brush. How ever it was through these tests that we discovered the harshness of the brush, which ultimately warped and concealed the spirals on the surface.

When connected, the swirls on each individual tile join, in order to create the allusion of ripples with in the ground.

Chameleon Tile

Сlick to see the process!

Our inspiration is simple, since we are in the city of Gaudi, we chose one famous work of Gaudi in Parc Guell : the Chameleon.
And because of the shape of the tile we are going to make is in hexagon,
we tried to achieve a design that comprised of continuous lines and shape, for the tile to be able to rotate to connect with another around.

The design process started with mirroring, rotating, and tracing the above picture to create a circle-like, head to tail, chameleons badge.
Then we used a plug-in called “pointreconstruction” in Rhino to give the triangular texture throughout the design.
The plug-in easily grasped the corners and edge of the Chameleon and create “Delaunay” out of it.
(The process of altering the height of each vertices is very manual and we hope we had more time to study the easier way of doing this)
Anyways, we finished off the design by connecting those water channels in the mold with our branches behind our stars.

The RhinoCam process finally finished .
Then came the job of the milling machine. The mold was done with foam block and consumed about half and hour time each.
We brushed the inside of the mold with thin layer of vaseline. Mixed the concrete. Poured it into the mold.
Shake. Get rid of the bubbles.
Waited for 8 hours to dry (very depending on the temperature and the weather)
Gently twisted the mold and the tile came off easily.
All these processes were very time consuming and we need to work well as a team.
The milling machine also needs a very precise and correct type of strategy.
We also learnt that the concrete work is not easy.
It turned out to be a very delicate work compare to the work on computer.

The idea was to create a structure that was deploy-able by unfolding and at the same time to imitate the flowers that open and close with the sun (nyctinasty).

This was done by using a ring at the base along which the joints slide to help close the open structure.

Two joints were used to create the structure above. The first kind of joint helps move the rods along the ring.  The second joint was to ensure two rods  in place to provide the pattern required. These joints were not fixed to allow different patterns along the two rods if needed. The curvatures of the rods help keep these joints in any required position.

The simple mechanism used allows the curved rods to move along the rings not only providing two, but numerous possibilities of creating openings along various points of the ring.

The structure can be assembled and disassembled easily depending on the size of the base ring required. It could could also be developed to form the framing of a structure used for shelter. This could either be temporary or permanent.

The joints were designed to take advantage of the 3d printer’s ability to create small, yet detailed 3-dimensional objects. Each joint has multiple holes to allow rods to fit in 8 different directions.  The dynamic movement of the structure resembles that of a curtain. The structure can take several forms by sliding the joints through the rods: the looping (side) rods slide along a central rod arc. The transition exposed in the photo overlays is between two basic positions: one where the side rods are lying flat on the board and one where they form a full scale volume following the arc.

We created joints of 3 different sizes. Each of the two largest joints connects half of the side rods, so that they are able to rotate from a common point, whilst the smaller joints fix the ends of the rods, allowing linear movement along the arc that passes through the central joint channel.

Printing on the z-corp machine (composite powder) limited the joint’s strength, so further experimentation on possible forms was challenging due to the joints breaking, but nonetheless, we discovered the component’s tension thresholds and exploited its capabilities.

GROUP 02
Karl Francalanza
Dimitrios Aidonis
Tobias Grumstrup Lund Øhrstrøm

Moving rods – movie

Rods are still

Structure in full shape

Joints on the structure

The printed joints

Derived from a hyperboloid of 1 sheet, the Hyperblob is a free standing structure made up of 25 2mm fiberglass rods, 33mm long, through two 3D printed rings, 150 mm in diameter. Hyperboloids can be found in architecture and are based on the concept of a ruled surface: through every point on the surface lies a straight line. Hyperblob is an exploration of curvature through the use of straight lines. The structure has a variety of movements, in all of the cartesian coordinates, due to the 3D printed joints.

The Digital Fabrication world has introduced the magic of 3D printing to a variety of audiences. As students, designers, and thinkers it was our task to explore this new technology and create a joint was only possible using this process. Using this criteria we produced a repetative joint that comprised of openings, angled at 20 degrees, as well as a bi-axial interlocking connection mechanism. Constrained by a bounding box of 50x50x100 mm, we printed 26 individual joints that when combined form two seperate rings.  The Hyperblob comes to life when rods pass through each ring allowing the structure to stand, move, and deform depending on the users manipulation.

The central theme of the project was to create a structure that arose from a flat plane into a three-dimensional object while challenging the properties of the materials used.

The uniqueness of the structure lies in the individual strips that lift from the flat surface, requiring no joints hence forming smooth curves.

The structure evolved over time to its final result where the support members were shifted from the exterior to the interior. Also a few curves were detached from the end strips in order to break the monotony of the overall structure.

Furthermore the strips created evolved from being just horizontal strips to multi directional curves using the laser cutter to our advantage.

Although the bending was done against the grains of the wood we were able to achieve the required result by laser cutters precision to create small perforations onto the surface.

To allow further bending of the wood, it was bent while wet. The inner structure was then fitted to hold the bend in place.

Through this process, it was possible to bend the two strips to achieve a gap of more than 15cm between them. Various distances have been used along the entire model that makes the overall structure more dynamic.

Additionally as the whole board was used to create the structure not much waste was generated from the process.

THE PROCESS:

1. Laser cut the perforations perpendicular to the curve required.
2. Wet the board for about 2minutes either by spraying or soaking (both methods were tried and gave positive results)
3. Bend the curve to the distance required and hold in place for a few seconds. Insert the central structure that would hold the bend while the structure dries and also as as the spine of the model.

Group 12 |  Akanksha Kargwal - Mamta Srinivas - Irina Shaklova

The structure is a simple constructive assembly system that allows us to experiment in a single object multiple and different types of joints and their possible variations/combinations that became our primary research, seeking to minimise waste.

The pentagonal footprint force us to generate horizontal elements that are connected by various elements in the vertical direction. The combination of both, horizontal and vertical parts is what generates height increase and stabilisation of the system when connected.

We also explored the void as an integral element in our structure, which reduces weight and helps with the distribution of the different parts to achieve an effective balance in our structure.

The result is, when unassembled; a compact structure system, easy to pack and transport,  extremely easy and quick to assemble based on the interlocking, bending, sectioning and clipping joints experimented and tested in different models and digital joinery. When assembled, is also stable and can be manipulated without the risk to be destroy.

Dimitrios Aidonis | Michele Braidy | Gustavo Triana

]]> http://legacy.iaacblog.com/maa2013-2014-digital-fabrication/2013/11/679/feed/ 0 http://legacy.iaacblog.com/maa2013-2014-digital-fabrication/2013/11/scratch/ http://legacy.iaacblog.com/maa2013-2014-digital-fabrication/2013/11/scratch/#comments Tue, 05 Nov 2013 20:53:04 +0000 Tobias Øhrstrøm http://legacy.iaacblog.com/maa2013-2014-digital-fabrication/?p=358 Using 3mm plywood, Scratch was born.  Scratch is a modular joint that can be connected in 4 places in order to create an infinite amount of unique shapes, towers, and sculptures.  Aesthetics, joint optimization, material distribution, height and waste optimization drove our design and it evolved from a pentagonal tower of triangles connected by joints to a tower made out of one component.  Fabricating one joint, multiple times allowed our structure to grow, naturally as the tower rose.  Using one element we were able to create curves, lines, and circular shapes giving the tower an organic distinct shape each time the tower was built.

The final dimensions of the scratch joint were determined by the material’s flexibility as well as the joint’s arm length.  The 3mm wood gave us optimal flexibility to bend pieces and form connections adding strength through tension and compression.  The scratch tower went through many iterations: first, we looked at the geometry of a spiral. Creating a spiral configuration would provide us with maximum strength, but left us with less opportunities to play with the system.  Secondly, we combined a spiral base with an organic flow that formed an unstable tower.  Final build experiments taught us that we could achieve a more stable structure as long as we had a strong base, this allowed us to grow our tower from a ridged base and explore the possibilities of natural form using one component as well as experiment with the tower’s maximum height.

Start from Scratch!

The assignment was to build a tower, tall, freestanding, with no extra elements, using four 840x400mm 3mm thick Plywood sheets.

The initial thought process was to achieve height by eliminating vertical elements and reducing the amount of wastage of material. To create stabilitiy and variation a “RING MODULE” with 5 nodal points was designed which could be generated 2 on each board. The remaining material was designed to be the “DIAMOND CONNECTORS” connecting the horizontal rings. 

The concept was to discover the possibilities of the plywood, by testing the limits and methods in terms of flexibility and the effects of tension on the wood’s fibers. To be able to handle the circular tension, a locking mechanism was designed allowing the horizontal loops and vertical repetition of modules. Techniques such as soaking in water and letting the modules dry in their bent form helped us to reach the design objective.

MARIA CZAJCZYNSKA        HRIDAY SIDDHARTH        GOKHAN CATIKKAS

BENDING

FINAL BOARD

1/5 PIECES

1/5 RING

ASSEMBLY