I haven’t had much time in the past week to work on physically progressing my project much farther. I have put a decent amount of time into trying to source magnets from a cheap and reliable source. In sourcing the magnets, I believe that I can get all of my magnets for under $25 which would cut the total projected cost of the project in half.
Due to my lack of experience in artistic wood work, I have been brainstorming better ways to fabricate the base for my mendocino motor. The most compelling solution at the moment is to laser cut acrylic sheets and stack them to make it 3D. In doing this, I would keep the curvature of the fighter jets mentioned in my last post while adding a stepping/riemann sum effect to the curves. It would be focused on a pleasant curvature at first glance and then transitioning into a slightly more rigid and square design upon further investigation. The biggest draw back of this design is simply the cost of the acrylic material needed to make it happen.
The other options that I have looked into would be machining the base out of Aluminum 6061, molding carbon fiber into the shape of the base, or simply 3D printing the base and finish the print with sandpaper, and possibly a color coated finish.
I plan on having all of my parts sourced and ordered by this coming Friday, so that I can work on it fairly heavily over spring break.
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The carbon fiber would be really cool and fairly easy to do if you have access to some. If not, the laser cutter would probably be a good way to go, just for the simplicity and adaptability you could have with your jet. I also think the layered Riemann sum effect would look really good. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this turns out! Good luck!
You seem to have a pretty good grasp on where you are going Peter and I think it is good you are thinking about cost and figuring out what is going to work and not work. I hope you got a lot of work accomplished over the break. I think stacking acrylic sheets could also be a very good supplement for carving out wood and would be quicker and more aesthetically appealing, since you know how to work with that material better.
I would recommend against 3D print due to costs. In the ITLL it cost 5$/cubic in with the nicer printers. Going with 3D printing would prove to be vastly more expensive in my opinion. I can’t remember is the professor mentioned that she would try to have a woodworking class, if so check it out. Clay might also work.
I think using aluminum 6061 to construct the base would be a better choice since it can be easily machined and it can also form the base pretty well. And using acrylic to form the base with your first idea is too expensive. Looking foward to your final design. Good luck!