Reinforcing with Fiberglass This process took place over a couple of days. The basic idea behind fiberglass and resin is to make the part stronger, and it makes it easier to work on when I apply the Bondo filler and start sanding. The mixture for the ‘glue’ is 1 oz. of fiberglass resin and 10…

There has actually been some fairly substantial update to my progress. Have settled on a design that is elegant, as well as simple Have planned out how to make the frame (still depends on a few material choices for the main container later) Frame will be made of wood and secured with dowels, screws, glue,…

This week I completed my project design – the clock consists of 4 laser cut sheets of plywood that are held a fixed distance from each other by two bolts and spacers. The gearing is suspended between two plywood sheets and held in place by small bearings. The for simplicity, the gears will be 3-d printed…

My next step in this process is to drill the center hole, so that’s what I worked on this week. I first thought that it would be possible to clamp the part to the side of the table and drill the hole by hand. Nope! I learned real quickly that I was unable to create anywhere…

It has been a stressful couple of weeks. I was relieved to have gotten the bulk of my work done before spring break due to the fact that right now it is crunch time with Senior Design, Thermodynamics, and I have triathlon nationals in a little over two weeks time. Basically I just have a…

1.) Everything went to shit Unfortunately the 3D printing company that was going to print my design for free, had a machine that broke down and as a result could no longer print my design for 6 months. As a result I had to start redesigning last week on Thursday. I started my baking quick…

Unfortunately I cannot make it to class Wednesday to hear about today’s influential designers, but I thought I might share who’s work I find inspiring. I’d be interested to see who’s currently inspiring you too. I don’t find Martha Stewart terribly inspiring, but what other female designers are influencing product design? Marcel Wanders http://www.marcelwanders.com/ known…

This  past week was all about figuring out the tubing for the lights. After finishing the CAD model I knew what length I needed to cut the arrows and how many of each length I needed. With that, I began to cut. It was a long and tedious process, but I finally got all of…

The plates of the immersion wheel are now laser etched and cut to shape. The plate which acts as the main support has a straight bottom edge. The straight edge provides an excellent opportunity to edge light the plate’s motif with LEDs. The LED strip that I chose can produce 7 colors, and has a…

This post will discuss progress on my 3D printer since Spring Break, as well as discuss how my aesthetic has been shaped by 20th Century design movements. The timing of this post’s discussion is appropriate because I’ve started constructing the stand which the printer will sit on/in, and am really working on honing in on my…

Since we’re talking about chairs as the classic design case study, I thought you may enjoy my chair book featuring the chairs of China. Some are up-cycled, some are at end of their life, all are rad. Have a seat and enjoy: http://www.blurb.com/b/6437590-have-a-seat

I am long overdue for a quick update on my project. I have made some good progress and I am very excited to continue working. My project has taken a different direction since I presented my design review. I am keeping with the idea of making some sort of  light fixture with LEDs and an…

My design is coming along nicely and I have received my first set of items. I am very pleased with how the man operates and the push button looks to work well. I should be able to begin printing next Monday. I have designed my fan so that the head piece is removable. Considering that…

For my surreal stirling engine, the main parts that I got made are the displacer and power piston connecting rods, and the pin connectors that link the connecting rods to their respective pistons (the glass syringe plungers). Designing these connectors was difficult because the plungers need to press-fit into the units in order to avoid using harsh adhesives.…

I would classify my cafe racer/brat bike in the post-moderism era around the late 1970’s to early 1980’s. This is pretty simple since I am re-designing my stock bike the way custom sport bikes used to look in that era. During our aesthetics game we were to design a hairdyer in the post moderism era.…

As mentioned in previous posts, the aesthetic that I am going for is a simple yet futuristic look. I want to give the appearance that there is a small robot inside the box, which acts as his house. This was primarily inspired by the two movies; star wars and Wall-e as well as oscar from…

Over spring break I experimented with polishing cans to achieve a shiny look for the exterior of the stove. The process of polishing cans proved to be rather difficult for anodized cans since no solvents really do the trick. To get a polished finish I used a sanding sponge first, then wet 600 grit sandpaper…

Currently I have all of the materials I need ready to go! I removed the original black plastic umbrella fabric and have used it to measure and cut all eight white lace panels needed to construct the parasol. During this process I discovered that the frame isn’t actually made from wood like how the product…

My Teensy just arrived in the mail today!  This will allow be to start doing some of the coding that will be included in my final project.  The Teensy uses the mBed platform for coding, so I may need to freshen up on the syntax for this platform, but I’m pretty confident I’ll be able…

I wasn’t as productive over break as I would have hoped. I got sick, but I did get something done. I finally nailed down my design (yay!). I also built a couple parts of it and got everything else ready to 3D print. I haven’t looked at the electronics again, but I will as soon…

I’ve been making fairly steady progress on the desktop radial engine. I currently have 57 machined pieces completed, with 47 left, yet most of these are not unique and thus the machining process is a little faster. All of the complex parts are done. I was also able to get a large chunk of the…

My original inspiration and motivation behind the bicycle was a feeling and emotion that I can’t quite put my finger on although I tried to in a few posts here and here. If it was subconsciously influenced by any aesthetic movements would say the closest is a combination of art deco and streamlining. I wanted…

Over the last 2 weeks I have learned how to use the 3D printers in the ITLL, learned more about the electronics side of things, bought all my parts, and designed the majority of the frame and control panel.  I’m going to try to finish the CAD this week so I can prototype and test…

With a heavy load for senior design and mechatronics in March, I’ve fallen behind on my posts.  Here are the top 5 constraints for my MIDI drum pad.  Sensor Overlap My MIDI drum pad uses a number of piezoelectric sensors to detect when the drum pads are struck. These sensors are moderately sensitive – enough…

I intentionally create a project that mixed several different styles and influences together. There is a slight influence of the Radical Design movement. The design has clean lines and geometric shapes. The color scheme derives from the Pop movement. It feeds off of the bright colors and tends to draw the eye. This is a combination…

Progress Update The panorama has been moving forward at a slow but steady pace. I’ve been making incremental progress, and as expected, I’ve begun to fall behind. Coding for the panorama has proved to be more of a challenge than expected as the pre-written code does not behave as I had previously expected. I’ve been…

If you haven’t been following along, in my last update I had just gotten the amplifier circuitry working but with just noise coming out when the guitar is plugged in.  Through a bit of finagling I was able to get a clean signal coming through the power amplifier and to the speaker.  The speaker was…

The Immersion Wheel motif references the Art Deco movement. Notice the repetitive lines and spade shapes that both the wheel and art deco have in common: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=imgres&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiVn4LGhOnLAhUil4MKHRskA9kQjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.easyfreepatterns.com%2Fvictorian-backgrounds-patterns.html&psig=AFQjCNGOwXpstydFmpbJo-e07lUPXH-nww&ust=1459448787852844 Another characteristic of Art Deco are the radiant symmetry as seen in the sunburst over the door of the Milwaukee Gas Light Building built in 1930. http://www.adunate.com/blog/2014/09/24/when-the-flame-is-blue/

By Roshan and Joe

I’ve made some progress this past with the design of my project – the clock gearing design is finalized and the general aesthetic is taking shape. The next step is to order the hardware that I selected for the design and begin manufacturing the back plate which will  be made out of laser cut plywood. The…

Originally, I was aiming for a highly angular design with bright colors and brush fonts, similar to the 80s “High Tech” aesthetic. http://gizmodo.com/nothing-is-better-than-these-80s-internet-depictions-of-1674498312 I’ve moved over to a more conservative aesthetic, that I see as having numerous, more poorly defined design inspiration. I have always been fascinated by blued steel and gilding, which I see…