https://youtu.be/MdtiG01MCuI

Post the COVID-19 situation, everyone had to reassess their scope for the project due to the lack of resources and equipment for them to finish the project. For me however, things have been so good far because I had finished my procurement process right before all of this started. To brief you about the procurement, I bought materials either from Home Depot or from Amazon. These particularly included PVC pipes, metal spray paint, gears, Steampunk skull, Steampunk fan, a 3 point extension cube and most importantly, an Edison bulb. I am glad due to this I could complete the work easily, in time with the resources I had at home, a hot glue gun and a drill machine.

My timeline looks like this :-

Actual Timeline

Planned Timeline

Initial Sketch –

Planned Fabrication Process – According to the initial sketch, I had planned to put the skull on the base and start building from there by assembling the pipes on it. I had planned to make a steampunk fan with bulbs in place of the blades. And I planned on wiring the whole product from the base itslef for the switches to operate the fan and the bulbs.

Actual Fabrication Process – In reality, I took a different path withe the feedback I got from Prof. Hertzberg and my fellow classmates. I assembled the pipes on the wooden base and moved the skull up to free space up at the base. I put a basic steampunk fan and I added an extension cube for the headphones to get charged and additionally, you could charge your other important electronic devices such as cellphone, laptop etc.

Some glimpses of the construction process –

To sum up the fabrication process, things turned out to be as planned, with COVID in background, I don’t think a lot changed for me or there is something I could have done differently.

Conclusion –

When I had to build something for my major project, I straight away knew I had to build something that serves my need. Being a gamer, I needed a headphone stand that would let me keep my headphones on the table. Once I decided on what to build, I was drawn towards the steampunk aesthetic for its antique and mechanical appeal. From where I started, I thought it would be a rough path, but with I have ended up with is great and something that eases out one of my daily problems. This class has given me a different outlook towards handling user needs and how an aesthetic can play an important role in product design. I am glad I could use the knowledge I gained and successfully built something for myself with my favorite aesthetic, i.e. Steampunk.

View of the headphone stand in my gaming setup-