Week 2 - 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)

Adjustable stand with a pin hinge.

The assignment of this week was to design a mobile holder, I decided to take this week's assignment as an oppportunity to try out 2 techniques I've never used before, pin hinges and living hinges.

The Idea behind the pin hinge is that it allows the design to be flexible and have a variable tilt angle which is very convineint for the user.

The idea behind the living hinge is that it allows for curvatures which look really nice when made out of wood, it like you're challenging the laws of nature somehow.

Tool Chain

Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?

In the assignment I've used:

Plywood sheets with a thickness of 3mm

M3 bolts with different lengths and nuts

Black spray

Software:

Fusion 360 for the design and exporting the DXF files

Rhino to edit the DXF files to make small adjustments

Illustrator to add the living hinge lines as they came in a template.

Illustrator (in the lab) as no other software to manipulate DXF files was availbale there and I needed one to solve a problem.

Laserworks to send my design to the laser cutter.

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?

I started by importing a model of the device I wanted the stand to hold and then importing it to fusion to make sure that my dimensions are sound and will fit the device.

The next step was sketching the different part of the project, they were all flat sketches on one plane.

Many considerations were taken into account when developing the sketches such as the dimensions of the T slots

Another thing taken into cosnideration was the alignment of tha parts, creating 0.1 - 0.2 mm tolerance between them so they can fit together easily.

The bolts used in the project were M3 bolts, the head of the bolt was about 5mm in diameter and 3 mm for the shaft thus the holes were made with a diameter of 3.2 mm

All the sketches were extruded with a thickness of 3mm as it is the thickness of the used plywood.

Parts are moved in place using joints to ensure that the design elements all fit together, most of the joints in this assembly is pin joints which are allowed to rotate freely around one axis.

The symmetric design elements were mirrored to ensure the symmetry of the deisgn and its accuracy

The table model was put on the stand to make sure is fits it well enough.

For the second stand, the one utilizing the living hinge, I also started with the model, I've put in a suitable angle.

Then I created a fully defined base sketch to be extruded

Then I extruded the above drawn sketch with a thickness of 3mm which is the thickness of the wood

Then I mirrored the body to create a duplicate.

I then created a wooden piece to connect the 2 parts together

I created an extruded curved wooden piece in place of the living hinge.

I searched for the dimensions of the live hinge to give moderate flexibility, which was about 2 mm spacing.

I exported the DXF files and loaded all the files to rhino to arrange them

I then loaded the DXF file exported from rhino in laser work for the cutting, I sat the cutter parameters for 20 mm/s and the power to 65%

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?

Continuing from the last step, I sat the speed of the machine and its power to the above parameters and then downloaded the file to the machine.

So, time for assembly then, I used M3 bolts with variable lengths with some nuts to make the pinned connections.

The photo show the connection on the T slots, and the mechanism of how the stand can take on a variety of angles.

For the second stand, I adjusted the living hinge to bend with a suitable angle.

I then locked this joined to keep the angle of the opening of the hinge at a specific angle.

A steep angle

A shallow angle

The back of the stand at a steep angle

The back of the stand at a shallow angle

The living hinge stand from the front

The living hinge stand from the back

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?

One of my friends at the lab had a probelm in that his dimensions were not correct and his model didn't fit together, so I alongside other students who were in the lab at that time helped him to adjust the measurements and re-cut the wrong parts to achieve the design he intended, which he did and the product turned out great.

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?

A mistake I did was that the 2 wooden sticks I cut the first time (the ones disassembled an put on the desk) were too short, making a shallow tilted angle impossible, and I discovered such mistake after I had finished cutting in the lab, a friend, who was present at the lab back then advised me to extend them using any editing software present in the lab's computer.

Luckily I found illutsrator to be installed on the lab's computer and I was able to edit the design and re-cut the 2 pieces which are now assembled with the rest of the stand making it functional across a wide range of angles.

Final Project

How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?

I've learned this week about the different connection that can be used in laser cut wood, such as the fingered slots, T slots, and mortise and tenon joints.

I've also experimented with pinned joints to allow for free rotational motion and living hinges to confrom the wood to curved surfaces.

Finger joints

Mortise and tenon joints

T slot joints

Pinned joints

Living hinges

WOW!

What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?

Bending wood is soo coool

Assignment Design Files

DXF file

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