Top 5 Specifications, Top 5 Constraints

Now that I am a few weeks into the project I am excited to talk about some of the specifications and constraints I have identified in the project.

Specifications:

1. Mid century modern aesthetic, I want the project to be distinguishable in its aesthetic
2. Functionality – I want the nightstand to have the overall form to function properly as a nightstand in my room or other typical bed heights, that is I want the overall height to be 26 inches including the “box” and legs, the box shown below is 14″ and the legs are 12″.
   
3.  Color, I want the Cherry to shine through with its natural grain, color, and beauty.
4. Climate Stability, I want the project to be stable no matter what climate I reside in, that is in lower or higher humidities. TO achieve this I have carefully planned grain direction and made the back panel out of veneered MDF.
5. Feeling, I want the nightstand to be a warm and comforting feeling, the natural tones of the cherry should really help with this

Constraints:

1. Time, now with only 2 and a half weeks left I have only made the box, I should be able to get the project completed in time but one limiting factor that may need to happen after the Design Report post is the finishing of the piece, this should be completed by Expo at the latest however.
2. Processing Materials has taken up the bulk of my efforts the first 2 weeks or so of time in the shop, and just planning the boards to length has taken the most of that. Each board had two be planed on two separate occasions which calls for multiple long set ups to prevent snipe (when a planer takes too much material off the ends of a board).

   

3. Glue Ups, take a long time prepare, set up, wait and then clean and process after. Each glue up is ideally done earlier in the day so that the next day can include working not waiting, but it doesn’t always work out like that.

   
   

4. Lost of first times for me, I have done a lot of things for the first time this project, big glue ups, veneer glue ups (shown below), will be doing insert hardware, drawer hardware, and other new things like specific joint types. All of this slows down the process considerably as I want to be safe and make sure I get it right as I don’t have a lot of room for error.
   
5. Access to Josh Colyer, Josh has been a limitless resource for me this project and it can sometimes be tricky to get his advice when he has other students and responsibilities. This has been good in a way though as it has developed my skills of planning around people and doing other portions of the project when I can.

The hardest constraints to work around are of course time, I am done with the bulk of material processing and have been making great headway on the actual construction. I hope I can stay on schedule but splitting my time between this and Senior Design has been a challenge.