Week 3 - Journal
Ideation
Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)
a sketch for the initial concept of the design
Task Description:
Design a model of a pen and pencil holder that may rest on a flat surface (Table Top). Be creative and come up with the coolest pen and pencil holder!
Ideation: this week I decided to design a pen and pencil holder for my niece who wants to become a pilot. In the beginning, I thought of making an airplane-looking pen holder but I noticed that I do not have the skill nor the time to create such a complicated design.
I followed the "less is more" approach by creating a minimalistic design that meets the requirements of this week's assignment. I will engrave a simple quotation that says "your limit is the sky, Marayam!" so she gets reminded of her dream and feels like something special is made for her. I am excited and hopefully, my niece will feel the same when she sees the final outcome!
Tool Chain
Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?
Software programs used for the purpose of design
After knowing the basics of designing 2D and 3D parts on Fusion 360, this week the focus was more on how to build parts that can be assembled together and can be fabricated using laser-cutting (2D) or 3d printing machine (3D).
Software programs used for preparing files for fabrication
Laserworks software was used to communicate with the laser-cutting machine and adjust power and speed suitable for the material thickness. Cura was used to create a g-code file for the 3d printer and slice the object into layers that the machine can process.
Tools/machines used for fabrication
A sheet of 3 mm plywood was used to build the object's body using the "BRM" laser-cutting machine, and PLA filament was used to fabricate the connection on Prusa 3d printer.
Design/Preparation Process
Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?
practicing video tutorials on Fusion 360 software
The design process of the bracket (3d design) including Fusion 360 and Cura:
Designing the bracket connection was the easiest step in the design process as I already followed the video tutorial on the portal, and the only adjustment that was needed is to change the angle of the bracket to 45 instead of 90 so it could be comfortable when it is used as a phone stand.
After finishing the sketch edit, I saved the extruded part as a mesh and imported it to Cura to slice it.
No supports were needed to print this part, however, I changed the wall-line count to three and increased the infill to 20 as an attempt to reduce the filaments consumption. Two parts were put on the machine for experimentation, which took 29 mins to complete.
The design process of the pen-holder on Fusion 360 and the preparation of the laser-cut file:
I used the dimension photo of the T slot connection as a reference to start the design, then the rest of the details were easier to draw as "fully-defined sketches".
The "joint" command in the assembly menu was really helpful to imagine how the design will be assembled before cutting the sheet material.
After I save the sketches separately as DXF files, I imported them on Laserworks to start the cutting process and the assembly of the final outcome.
Takeaways from the videos:
Having each part of your design as a separate component will allow easy adjustments to your design and will let you know when a design feature exactly happened and makes things more organized.
Creating a component from an existing component won't copy the design history of the original part.
Assemble menu -> joint -> face/point/line (ctrl for better control on the selection/active component).
Grounded part can not be moved, however, you can right-click on the component and ungrounded.
First selection will be the part that moves to the second selected part.
Unlike the t-slot and captive nut connection that only works with connecting two panels at a 90-degree angle, the bracket connection works with any angle and can be adjusted easily on Fusion to fit any design so you only build it once.
practicing video tutorials on Fusion 360 software
Development/Implementation Process
Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?
The implementation process of the bracket design on the 3D printer and the pen-holder on the laser-cutting machine:
Cutting the 3 MM plywood was a familiar task to do as it is been used in the previous assignments before but what was really challenging is engraving the text so it remains readable. It took me three attempts to get the right speed and power for such a small text.
It was advised in the videos to leave 0.2 clearance so that the 3D-printed part came out with the right dimensions. It was a happy moment when I found out that the nut fits perfectly inside the bracket.
Overcoming Challenges
What kinds of challenges or problems did you face while doing the assignment, tutorials, or exercises? How did you solve them? Did you ask for help from an instructor or peer? Please provide a link to the tutorial or article that you used to solve your problem (if any)
Choosing the right setting for 3d printing such a tiny little object was a bit challenging.
I could not compromise with the strength of the object as it will be used to connect two panels so the infill was 20%, and the layer height was 1.5 which is acceptable for an object that will be covered anyway.
For the support, it was so confusing as according to the overhang angle, it is recommended to add support starting from 70-degree and above. In this case, the object is too small, it works without support even with a 90-degree angle. I was happy with the result as I could not imagine myself removing supports from these tiny holes without affecting the surface quality.
3d printing settings for the bracket
Final Project
How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?
Knowing how to assemble the design on Fusion before fabrication will save a lot of time and effort when fabricating the final project, and instead of imaging how the object will be assembled in reality I can actually detect the errors and apply the adjustments needed.
the final product in use
details of the T slot connection
bracket connection for the phone stand
WOW!
What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?
Final outcome after fabrication and adding the bracket
The session exercise was to design and fabricate a lantern that has four sides using the knowledge we have learned from the videos about connection and assembly.
We had the chance to work in a group of three members; one was responsible for designing and fabricating the bracket and the other two were in charge of designing the 4 sides of the lantern including the t-slot connection.
Challenge: since the pattern is the design feature that was added toward the end of the process, the original bracket was slightly long and it appeared from the gaps so we had to adjust its length at the last minute and right before the fabrication.
Weekly Digest [OPTIONAL]
Tell us about any other cool things that you've made this week: in the Hands-on activity, tutorial examples, exercises, or any other cool mini-project that you tried out aside from the assignment.
Experimenting with coating PLA surfaces:
I am always fascinated by material/surface manipulation when prototypes are done with different materials but coated with real material so it looks real.
This model was printed in white PLA filament and I covered it with several layers of water-based filler before I apply the stone-looking spray to it.
Finishing PLA models with stone-looking spray