IC.1 Digital Fabrication » Adhitya Rathinam

GROUP 17 I 0.5mm Translucent Polypropylene & 4mm Aluminium

Ceren Temel — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 08:49:41 +0000

Design strategy came out of experimenting with bending of 0.5 mm polypropylene. After finding the appropriate dimension of pp flat sheet that could be bent with minimal deformations, more investigations were done in field of attaching already bent pp surfaces one to another. Joints for this connection required some fine tuning in analogue models because of the material properties that couldn’t been simulated in digital model. Variations in component were designed in order to direct the light and to accomplish appearance of less and more dense areas. These variations consider different angles of attached bent surfaces.

Fabrication technique – Laser Cutting

Machine time – 2 h

4mm aluminum was used as support structure and skeleton behind polypropylene skin. Fabrication of aluminum considered milling process, which required patience in order to find proportion of machine speed and depth step levels that works for this kind material. Clean and sharp edges could be accomplished if this process goes slowly. Because of lack of time, speed needed to be higher, and the edges of aluminum showed some melting. After milling, edges were manually edited. This affected precision of cut-out pieces and due to that stability of designed joints.

Fabrication technique – Milling

Machine time – 8 h

3 mm Aluminium Sphere

Ceren Temel — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 09:55:35 +0000

At first we did design of aluminium sphere as constructive assembly of joints and folding. Design strategy was based on using the 0.3 mm thick aluminium and the EndCut Mill tool 0.3 mm in diameter. In this case one mill cut matches thickness of material, making joints possible.

As we starded to mill our material, we realized that parts designed for joints are too thin and fragile to be succesfull. Because of that we focused only on the folding of aluminium. This was done by engraving the folding lines.

We also had problems with melting of aluminum during the milling process. But we were able to cut of the melted part manually.

Translucent Polypropylene Sphere

Ceren Temel — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:15:06 +0000

Sphere_laser cutting

Laser cutting time – 14 minutes.

Size of the sheet – 68×36 cm

Size of the spheres – 12 cm in diameter

Sphere_strategy 1

We divided sphere into 10 equal slices by cutting the sphere with radial planes, after that we applied twisting to these slices by 60 degrees. By unrolling surface of the slice we were able to have 2D element on which we made joints suitable for flexible material such as polypropylene.

Sphere_strategy 2

The second sphere was created by dividing sphere into 12 equal slices, also done by cutting the sphere with radial planes. Here, we experimented with folding detail on two points of sphere where slice sheets meet.

CHAPA ALUMINIUM 1mm

Adhitya Rathinam — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 16:03:46 +0000

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Aluminium 3003-H14 (AL 3003-H14)

It was Sir Humphry Davy in the 1800s that he named it. It was from the word Alumen which means ‘to have a bitter taste.

FORMULA/CHEMICAL COMPOSITION:

Aluminium alloys in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal.The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin and zinc. 3000 series are alloyed with Manganese.

MATERIAL DESCRIPTION:

Aluminium Sheet is metal formed by an industrial process into thin, flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Aluminium is also a popular metal used in sheet metal due to its flexibility, wide range of options, cost effectiveness, and other properties. The four most common aluminium grades available as sheet metal are 1100-H14, 3003-H14, 5052-H32, and 6061-T6.

EXTRACTION PROCESS:

In its alloy form Aluminium passes through a hot-rolling mill and is then transferred to a cold-rolling mill, which can gradually reduce the thickness of the metal down to as low as 0.05 mm. Rolled products are categorized as either foil (less than 0.2 mm thick), sheet (0.2-6 mm), or plate (thicker than 6 mm).

BASIC PROPERTIES:

Comprehensive Strength [N/M2]: 14×10^{^6} N /M2

Tensile Strength [N/M2]: 15×10^{^7} N /M2

Stiffness [N/M2]:

Density [KG/M3]: 2730 KG/M3

RECYCLABLE:

Fully recyclable with no downgrading of quality, aluminium is the most cost-effective material to recycle In fact, 75% of the aluminium produced since its discovery is still in use today.

Laser: Effective

Milling: Effective

3D Printing: Effective

ADVANTAGES IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL FABRICATION:

AL 3003 H14 is relatively low in cost and widely available. The main alloying ingredient is manganese which makes it a good choice for spun, formed or stamped parts and can be easily welded. 3003 has excellent workability, weldability, and good corrosion resistance. Typical applications for 3003 H14 include: mail boxes, cabinets, fan blades, awnings, siding, kitchen equipment, decorative trim, architectural uses, signage applications, etc.

MATERIAL SUPLIERS:

Servicio Estacion, Carrer d’ Arago

http://servei@serveiestacio.com

PRICE:

1200mm x 10mm x 1mm = 4,4 Euros

REFERENCE IMAGES:

Tampa Bay Museum at Tampa Florida