Embedded Files
Ideation
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)
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)
This week, I WANTED TO MAKE... ( ´ ▽ ` )
This week, I WANTED TO MAKE... ( ´ ▽ ` )
- Butterfly Glasses
For this week’s assignment, I designed a pair of custom “butterfly-shaped” glasses. The idea was to explore wearable fabrication using mixed digital manufacturing methods: laser cutting for the front face and 3D printing for the side arms.
I was inspired by unconventional eyewear designs often seen in fashion, especially large statement frames with bold geometry. So I wanted to make something that stands out, in an elegant way.
While browsing for visual references/inspiration. I found this beautiful design by Jana Palmiter, an artist. The butterfly shape immediately grabbed my interest and I designed something similar from scratch, to add my own flair.
Tool Chain
Tool Chain
Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?
Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?
fusioncad:
fusioncad:
Main program used to sketch, design, and model 2D and 3D parts for laser cutting and 3D printing.
LASERCUTTING
LASERCUTTING
MACHINE:
MACHINE:
El Malky ML64 Laser Cutter
The El Malky ML64 gave clean results with proper power/speed settings.
SOFTWARE:
SOFTWARE:
LaserCAD
LaserCAD was used to import and prepare the DXF file.
MATERIAL:
MATERIAL:
3mm Boards
3mm wood is a good balance between durability and ease of cutting.
3D PRINTING
3D PRINTING
MACHINE:
MACHINE:
Creality Ender-3 Pro
Ender-3 Pro was available in our lab and performs reliably for 3d printing.
SOFTWARE:
SOFTWARE:
UltiMaker Cura
I used Cura to slice the STL model and set print parameters.
MATERIAL:
MATERIAL:
PLA Filament
PLA was chosen for its ease of use and availability
Design/Preparation Process
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?
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?
laser cutting
laser cutting
After knowing exactly what I want to make, I began by creating a sketch in FusionCad
I designed the general shape on the right side using splines, added details, adjusted it to my liking.
Made a 3mm hole for the M3 screw to go into (+ 0.2mm for clearance), while will be mirrored to the other side.
Then I offset to create the inner ring, and mirrored to the other side.
After making sure the design is fully defined, I was ready to extrude it by 3mm, to make it 2.5D
The final design was around ~160mm in width, and ~60 in height.
3D PRINTING
3D PRINTING
The rest of the glasses, which are the arms, will be made in 3D, so I started by creating a general sketch for an arm.
Refined it, extruded, made the L-shape tab, making sure it was thick enough to not break.
Used Fillet for smoother design and Shell to save on some material.
Made the M3 screw hole in the L-shape tab, 3mm + 0.2mm for clearance.
Then I mirrored the design to the left side, giving me both arms ready to print.
I applied a texture and color to give it some flair.
The final design was around ~120mm in length, and ~10mm in width
Development/Implementation Process
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?
Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?
For the frame, I exported the design to a .dxf file, then opened it on LaserCad, from which I adjusted the parameters for the cutting to be Speed: 15 & Power: 65, as well as moving the design to the top right.
Then I downloaded it onto the machine, adjusted the origin point, checked its focus, Everything seemed good so I hit start.
It took around one and a half minute to cut, and there were no issues with the cutting process, the part came out flawlessly.
The pattern was clear, the cut was precise, and the clearance was enough to allow some breathing room so that it doesn't break.
Looks good!
As for the 3D print, I Imported the final design to UltiMaker Cura, then I adjusted the slicing parameters:
Layer Height: 0.2 mm
Infill: 10%
Supports: Not needed as print is stable.
Brim: Not needed as contact surface is large.
Orientation: Default orientation was flat and printable
This setup resulted in printing time of 1 hour and 26 minutes, and took up 9g of material. I previewed the slicing layers to verify the print path before exporting the G-code for the Ender-3.
After saving the .gcode from Cura, I transported it onto a memory card and put it into the 3D Printer, selected it, and hit Start.
The 3D printed arms also printed cleanly, Overall the dimensions were spot on,
Now let's assemble it using M3 screws & nuts.
Success! The assembly was easy and overall I'm happy with how it turned out.
There are some things I would like to improve on though:
the position of the M3 screw would've been better in the middle, to better integrate the L-shaped tab with the glasses.
It also seems I made the hanging arms a bit too short... I should've increased the arcs' diameter to give it a better grip.
And I would've liked to Fillet the edges on the outside as well, not just the inside.
Community of Learning
Community of Learning
Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?
Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?
When it came to positioning the M3 screw, my Instructor suggested to increase the width of the butterfly's frame, as there was a likely chance of the frame to easily snap.
So I went back to FusionCad's design history, from when I made the inner design offset, and increased it to 7mm, Which was good enough for the frame to hold strong and not break, I'm glad I adjusted it because it would've definitely broke otherwise.
Overcoming Challenges
Overcoming Challenges
When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?
When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?
A major problem that faced was that I could not get the LaserCad program to work with the machine, It simply did not recognize the machine and I had no idea what to do.
Thankfully our specialist knew what to do, and advised that, like a normal printer, the program needs to know what the type of the machine is, Which can be done automatically via a button. After it found the machine's name, the laser cut .dxf file was successfully exported to the machine.
Let me show you a brief tutorial on how to do this if you're stuck like I was:
In the top right of the program, you'll see a "Communication Mode" panel, click on "Select Mode"
You'll see a list of machines like this, Click on "Add" (in the USB Mode)
Then, while the machine is connected to your laptop via USB, click on "FindCom"
This should automatically detect and assign the name of the machine, now you can select that machine from the list and work normally.
I also recommend anyone doing this to remark the position of the M3 hole very clearly and think about what the best location for it to be, It would be preferable if you were able to hide the L-shaped tab behind the glasses frame itself, which largely depends on the M3 hole's position.
If I do this again, I would definitely put the M3 hole in the middle of the frame, as that would better conceal the L-shaped tab, I would increase the thickness of the frame, 7mm did work fine but I feel 8mm would've been better.
And most importantly, Define as you go! I learned the hard way that It is unwise to design first then fully define later.
In one of my earlier sketches, I left most of the lines unconstrained, thinking it'd be quicker to just get the general shape down and lock it in later. Over time, small misalignments crept in, lines weren't perfectly aligned, angles shifted, and gaps appeared. When I finally started adding dimensions, fixing one thing broke something else, sending the whole sketch out of shape, I spent more time chasing down and correcting these errors than I would have spent defining everything as I drew it. It's quite similar in concept to technical debt in programming. as it is much harder to control and adjust a sketch when most of the geometry is unconstrained, Even small edits can cause unrelated parts to move or distort. But if you define as you go, every line and circle is locked in place, so changes behave predictably. This stability saves time and prevents unintended chain reaction of errors.
Ultimately, I chose to cut my losses and start over fresh, defining every feature I draw, which worked much better.
Defining as you go is simply the safest and most efficient way to work.
Whenever a feature is drawn, we immediately set its dimensions & constraints, hugely beneficial especially for large designs in the long run.
Notice how we have to trace back from the beginning to define one by one, Even with a simple example this still takes time. Now imagine if you had a complex design, It'll be near impossible to fully define.
Final Project
Final Project
How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?
How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?
Learning how to use FusionCad was a major skill I've acquired this week, which will help me immensely when attempting to design prototypes (2D or 3D) for my final project
WOW!
WOW!
What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?
What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?
Learning FusionCAD was the most fun and rewarding part of my week. It has its flaws and can be frustrating, but its ease of use and versatility more than make up for it
Weekly Digest [OPTIONAL]
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.
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.
pottery making
pottery making
For our extra session, our instructor introduced us to the basics of pottery using air-dry clay.
We got a brief history of pottery in general and learned the fundamentals of working with clay.
I tried making a coaster with little "teeth" to help grip cups... but it ended up looking more like a dental mock-up 😅
Then I tried coloring it... that went horribly wrong.😭
Still though, it was genuinely fun! and despite everything it still works as a brilliant (maybe-not) cup coaster!
Assignment Design Files
Assignment Design Files
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