Students have been looking at ways to create strength using shape both for their 3D printed designs in Design Tech as well as for their boat building project in math and science classes.
We've been using ideas from the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop video series.
The boat building project is providing us with excellent opportunities to apply what we are learning in class. Only being able to use a limited amount of cardboard and duct tape means we really have to think about how to best use these materials to create a functional boat. This is similar to how nature has to design: with limited supplies and energy. In the end, designing with limits creates more sustainable designs and teaches us to use our resources well.
Discussing, planning, trying.
Students began their boat projects by creating designs in Sketchup.
Here are some pictures from the construction of an idea found in Makezine – The Towel – a radio controlled flying wing. This is a proof of concept, seeing how 3D printing and our CNC machine can be used in various phases of construction.
Used the Laguna IQ One CNC machine to create the deck. The shape was drawn in Adobe Illustrator and then imported into Vectric V-Carve Pro to create machine paths.
This deck is where the motor mount, ESC and servos attach. Added holes to lightweight the structure using 4mm ply. This is V1. V2 had more holes. Edges were chamfered for aerodynamics and light-weighting.
Below, you see V2 with more holes. Fins are glued to wood deck for strength.
The video below shows the process of creating the pockets for the servos.
Servo sitting snug in its pocket.
Below you can see the 3D printed motor mount. Started off as a shared file on Thingiverse. (Thanks Thingiverse user garethrv.) Then it was edited in Sketchup and printed out.
We've been getting the CNC router up and running these last few weeks, both with the drag knife and the spindle. In the mini-project below, an idea from Thingiverse was the inspiration. The Strap Chair looked pretty cool and simple enough for a starter project. The .eps files were downloaded and slightly modified in Adobe Illustrator. A kerf pattern was created to help the chair bottom bend and to create a better bodily contour. These kerfs will also make the chair lighter and increase air circulation. The modified .eps files were brought in Vectric V-Carve Pro where the tooling paths were then created. The final chair was rescaled to about 1/7 of its original size while using 3.5mm plywood. Overall, this downsizing approach creates a pretty good prototype without wasting much wood and using less tooling resources. The last image at bottom shows an example of what can be done with the drag knife. This CNC tool has amazing potential.
Example of Drag Knife Cutout Below Using Cardboard
As discussed in class, this project is about saving water at school. In order for this to happen, we have to inform people about the faucets and toilets and how they can be turned off with a second bump. As a graphic designer, it's your job to communicate this information. Think of how you can communicate it briefly, entertainingly, and clearly. Watching the typography videos in our resources folder will help you.
Your design should fit on a standard sized sheet of copier paper. We will laminate them later.
Your text message is important. So are the graphic elements.
Found a really nice, simple to use rendering plugin for Sketchup. Plugin allows for shadow control, exposure control and focus control. Below are two sample images from it. It can be found at: https://getvisualizer.com/get/sketchup Learn more about it from the video at bottom.
Tech Deck rendered from Sketchup using Visualizer plugin.
Way to go Makers! We really like the enthusiasm we are seeing. Also, great job with clean-ups, proper use of tools, putting tools back when done, being respectful of other people's work.
It's great to see everyone having a good time and being creative!
Last Thursday we had our third session of Maker Club and things are going great. Students are enjoying the variety of tools, materials and options available to them in our ever-improving maker space. Students are involved with electronics, wood working, paper crafts, airplane models, 3D printing, Lego robotics, etc. We are fortunate to have access to many great tools and resources. And it's about to get better. Over the winter break, our new CNC router came in from Laguna Tools in California. We still have some work to do to set it up and get it running but when we do, we'll be able to do some pretty interesting things. Both our 3D printers, and now, our CNC cutter, will allow students to continue exploring 21st Century fabrication methods which fuse computer aided design (CAD) with computer aided machining (CAM). It's never been a better time to be a maker!
