Technical Design and Digital Fabrication Spring 2021

Day 1: 3/30/21

These are pictures of my first Fusion 360 project. I learned and practiced navigation around the window, basic sketches of squares and circles, dimension control commands, and simple extrusion. The project was divided into two components: the box itself and the box lid.

Day 2: 4/1/20

On Day 2, we practiced editing our WordPress pages with selfies of ourselves. We also started working on more complicated sketches in Fusion 360, including the bottle opener seen above. The bottle opener was not extruded or anchored down.

HW Due Day 3: 4/6/21

The above Bottle Opener #6 was our homework due on Day 3: 4/6/21. For the project, I learned a lot about Fusion 360 including: 1) the ability to bring in images to sketch over top, 2) mirroring functionality, 3) anchoring down lines, 4) fillet radii, 5) chamfers, 6) better dimensional control. The sketch was at first very difficult, but, with Mr. Brodie’s assistance, I was able to complete it according to the correct dimensions.

HW Due Day 4: 4/7/21

These are pictures of the bottle opener 3 exercise. This exercise required the use of many different circles with various different radii to properly form the device’s shape, as well as many small, concise measurements around the center of the device.

These are pictures of the bottle opener 4 exercise. This exercise required the use of many vertical and horizontal lines converging from two primary end circles. The most difficult part of the exercise was the fillet shape on the center-bottom.

HW Due Day 5: 4/10/21

These are pictures of the MAD Tutorial #2. The joints on this project were the most difficult part, as the components kept moving around after the joint placement and before the movement type/axis setting. I intend to go to consultation with Mr. Brodie to discuss these problems, but most of the design turned out quite well.

HW Due Day 6: 4/13/21

The pictures above are of the MAD Tutorial #7. This project involved multiple different extrusions from various aspects of the original sketch. It also involved revolving cuts as well as appearance customization.

HW Due Day 8: 4/16/21

For this night’s homework, we had to create orthographic drawings of our cell phones. I drew a top, front, and side view of my phone with proper dimensions (please see the bottom image above). I then designed the phone from the drawing on Fusion 360, using extrusion and fillets.

HW Due Day 9: 4/20/21

Paragraph on the Video: Watching the TedTalk on Rapid Prototyping from Google’s Tom Chi was very interesting and I learned a lot about early stage design. First and foremost, although it does not directly relate to this class, it is very important to attempt to understand the full “experience” of a product through its prototype. In the case of the video, they wanted to actually wear the glasses, but in the case of more traditional objects (that can’t necessarily be worn), it might be more helpful to simply see a life size model in its designated location- as precise as CAD dimensions are, you can never fully understand an object and its surrounding relationships through dimensions alone. In turn, it is best to first use cheap and common materials when prototyping- CAD, namely Fusion 360 with its simulation abilities, however, eliminates this necessity which is very helpful for fast design. Overall, when designing anything, it is important to first mimic functionality with simple prototypes. Problems faced during prototyping and their eventual resolutions set the groundwork for future design choices to come. Lastly, Mr. Chi stressed the endless possibilities of technical design!

HW Due Day 10: 4/22/21

These were my four ideation sketches of phone stands. Although I am still going to use the design of my cardboard prototype, it was very helpful to sketch out some other possible ideas for designs.

HW Due Day 11: 4/29/21

Our homework assignment was to write a short paragraph on the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” video. The video distinguished the prior three industrial revolutions, each carrying through to the next, as the following: the first was the beginning of our use of fossil fuels and the steam engine, the second was the beginning of the use of electricity, and the third was the start of the use of computers. The fourth, the video claimed, would alter our entire society from the advances of the last three. First, a new economic system will be created due to technology’s taking of jobs, bearing fruit to new training for workers and the necessity of more wealth-spreading initiatives by governments. Second, we will convert back to renewable energies in an attempt to fight climate change. Finally, technology will start to not only relate to and interact with how we live our lives, but begin to permeate our very beings, with tech being incorporated into our persons. Design is at the forefront of how people currently imagine that technology and innovation in design enables progress. The skills that we learn in technical design class are highly applicable to robotics and machine usage, crucial to this so-called fourth industrial revolution. The video was very interesting and made me all the more excited about the skills I am gaining through this class.

CNC Laptop Stand Project

The CNC Laptop Stand Project was very interesting and expanded my Fusion 360 skills greatly. The original side design was relatively difficult and had to be edited numerous times, mainly due to the measurements needing to be parametric and match up perfectly to my laptop. Another difficult part of the project was the rigid joint between the two sides. However, the most cumbersome part of the effort was certainly the creating of the holes due to the CNC Machine’s inability to cut 90 degree angles.

Phone Stand Project

The Phone Stand Project was very interesting and greatly improved my Fusion 360 skills. Although the main design involved a lot of thought and measurement, namely the pin-hinge designs, the hardest aspects of the project were certainly the joints. There are two main revolution joints and two main slider joins. The revolution joints are for the hinge attached to the back of the phone holder and to the base plate respectively. The sliders are for the phones back-and-forth movement and the connection between the phone holder and the base plate respectively.

Classwork 4/29/21:

In class today, I started the lamp stand project. I came up with some ideas by looking at small lamps online and by thinking of ones I had at home. I sketched out the most promising idea and begin a cardboard prototype of the spinning base joint. I mis-sized the cardboard pieces for the base joint so the prototype didn’t work out as planned, but it sill helped me formulate further ideas for the project.

HW Due 5/1/21:

Problem Paragraph: I am trying to design a simple desk lamp that can rotate and be maneuvered into a variety of purposes essential to the use case. The necessity of the lamp to rotate is derived from my needing to use to to light up a variety of things around my desk without having to move it. The necessity of the lamp to be able to bend into a variety of positions (namely heights) is derived from my sometimes need to use it close up for activities like reading and other times to have it a little farther away for computer use, etc. In order to complete these tasks I want a revolution joint on the bottom and some sort of ball-and-socket joint on the top with the light attached to the end of a connector. Overall, I want the base of the lamp to be about 20 cm., maybe a little more, and the height of the lamp to be about 40 cm. for optimal use.

HW Due 5/4/21:

Here are my four lamp design ideation sketches. At the moment I am leaning towards sketch 1, with some elements of sketch 4 including the screw holes and wider base. Sketching these ideas helped me get a better sense of the components of my lamp design. As is apparent, I stressed the movability and use of joints in all four sketches- these joints were clearly labeled with movement arrows and descriptions.

Lamp Stand Project: May 4 – May 20 2021

The lamp design project contributed to a huge step in my Fusion 360 capabilities. On a practical skill note, I learned a lot about sketching on spherical/cylindrical planes, creating thread holes, using the spline feature, and using the pipe feature. I also learned about the shell command and numerous plane creation techniques of the software. In terms of design skills, I learned about the necessity of balancing function with aesthetics, the importance of weight in 3 dimensional designs (particularly tall designs like my lamp), and the importance of pre-project research. Lastly, I learned about 3D printer maintenance, changing out the filaments for my prints. This was an awesome project and I certainly learned a lot!

Final Lamp Physical Submission 6/9/21

The lamp was 3D printed in 8 separate components, glued together. Both joints (the rotational and ball/socket) work well and the switch is perfectly position in the pipe. I had so much fun on this project and learned a ton!

Lamp Design Components: Fusion 360

This was the base component in Fusion 360 (it was ultimately printed out as two different bodies). The hardest part of designing this component was certainly the varied concentric circles for extrusions and holes.

This was the Base Stalk Locker component, meant to lock the main stalk into the base while still allowing it to spin around in the revolution joint. The hardest part of designing this component was adding the threads on the small holes (meant to insert a pin to stop the lamp from spinning).

This was the main stalk component, the tallest and largest part of the design (it was ultimately printed out in three body sections). The two hardest parts of this design were as follows: 1) adding the pipe around a vertical spline sketch- it was difficult to make the pipe flush with the bottom vertically-facing cylinder; 2) the cutting out of the holes for the ball and socket joint resting positions- this was difficult due to a lack of clear plane on which to sketch.

This was the final horizontal light stalk component, ultimately printed in two body sections. The hardest part of this design was accounting for the weight of the light bulb and ensuring that the ball would fit the socket (not small so as to fall out and not too big so as too not be able to be pressed into the joint).