Machines that Make - Corners v2

I designed and printed new corners for my machine this week. They will hold the ends of the rod for the y axis. The strength of this design is far superior to the original round version.  You may ask, "Well, why didn't you just cut a piece of wood and drill a hole in it?" My answer - because it would have been much harder to counter-sink a bolt in the bottom. Is the counter-sunk bolt necessary? No, but it will make it much easier to align and tighten the corners to the mounting material. 

 

Machines that Make - Construction Plans

Ever since I heard a story on NPR about Thad Starner,

Thad

I haven't been able to get the idea of social cognition and collective intelligence out of my head. My obsession has been inspiring me to talk more about my work with whoever will listen, in hopes of feedback or ideas.  Lately, my inquisitiveness has lead to many talks about the construction plans for the false wall that will house the mechanism for my machine...

A grad colleague that worked in construction for a while, gave me some good insight on how to construct and deconstruct a possible 3 sided room for the installation... and introduced me to gator board, among other things... Here are some drawings from that chat:

Last weekend when I visited my family for Easter, I also chatted with my Dad about my machine and he gave me some helpful suggestions and drew me a sketch of what he recommends I construct out of metal studs and plywood... 

 While I know I'm probably a little too old to get help from my Dad on my school projects, it sure is fun to collaborate with him, especially since we hardly get to see each other.  We have planned to team up next weekend for the construction...  to be continued!

Machines that Make - Making Parts

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on sourcing all of my parts for the Machine that Makes project. In addition to the metal, wood and plastic that makes up the facade, I've been 3D printing a few components that will aid in assembly. I have borrowed some of the open-source parts available for the Prusia i3, and am designing a couple of new ones.

Frankie helped me design a part to hold the ends of my rod, which I have pictured below. The MakerBot only successfully printed 92% of the design, so I decided to try and make it work... Long story short - my attempt failed, so I will be printing new parts as soon as possible.

Machines that Make - Fitting in

Graduate reviews was a great opportunity to step back and look at the progress I've made this academic year. I am happy with the direction all of my pieces have taken in terms of technology, and I am happy to see that I've made large strides in learning new technology and collaborating. Here is a small snippet of video from my set up for graduate reviews... the Compact Mirror (wip) project is on the left, Pulse Operated Mirror in the middle and the Machines that Make (wip) project is on the right.

Machines that Make - Digital Renderings

For graduate reviews, I created a digital rendering of the machine I am creating this semester to help communicate my ideas and work-in-progress. I enjoyed working in Rhino to create a model of what I am envisioning in my head. I also really enjoyed learning more about how to use the lighting features in Rhino to create a more realistic rendering. 

 I am thinking that the materials that construct the "lamp shade" will be drywall or wood, painted to match the wall. The box across the way will house the Kinect, that will track the movement of the viewer and initiate the movement of the motorized gantry that holds the end effector (light).

Machines that Make - Samples

In my quest to create a novel machine, I've become a hacker. I never thought I would say that... but I'm starting to think I might have always been a hacker — splicing bits and pieces of this with that, to modify this or to make that better... I think it's all innovation anyway (depending on how you look at it).  For the creation of these mocked-up models, I've borrowed some Prusia i3 parts to make my mechanism... I'm pretty happy with the ease of assembly. The printed parts slide along the dowels with ball bearings. The dowels will eventually be replaced with smooth steel rod. I'm trying out two different orientations for the axes. I think I'd like to test it out with the electronics before I settle on an orientation.  (The cell phone eventually will be replaced with a light — just there on the carriage for "effect.")

 

Machines that Make - Ideas & Inspirtation

Over the past few months, I've been working on a series of pieces that are broadly inspired by my interest in the human body, existance and our understanding of being alive.  I've finished one of the pieces in the series, find more about that piece here. Below are some of my sketches for potential machines that will follow in these concepts... the sketch on the left is the one I am going to go with for the "Machines that Make" project. It will fit nicely into my current body of work. Next week I will be posting some images of the models and test pieces...

  

AND some books that I've been inspired by the last few months... Check them out!

Machines that Make - Visual Research

This semester my studies have landed me in a course called "Machines that Make," an introduction to  the rapid-prototyping of rapid-prototyping machines; history, theory and practice of digital fabrication and design. Our main project in this course is to design and create a novel machine that makes. Using our previous understanding of process and newly acquired knowledge of the machines from the class - research, design, fabricate and produce a machine that makes... 

As an artist, with a background in jewelry and metalsmithing - I've always had an interest in objects that either adorn the body, or require the body to be activated, and machines are no exception. So, I begin my research... Follow my progress here.