Degree Show Installation

First Cut and Bend

1/8" thick material:

like butter

I've spent the last few days trying to get the Plasma Cutter up and running on the CNC. Among other things I need to wire a control board to the main board on the inside of the Plasma Cutter. Since it is a brand new unit I wanted to make sure it worked normally before I cracked the case open and went to town. So I made a quick test cut (with the handheld torch) and was really impressed with how clean the cut was:

Solidworks

So Im and I are both deeply engrossed with our Thesis work at the moment (and will be until May). I've spent the last few weeks trying to teach myself a new piece of software...Solidworks is a parametric based modeling program that allows for a design to be controlled by potentially intricate and flexible relationships. Its kinda like if Autocad and Excel gave birth to a genius child. Autocad is capable of modeling but the model is dumb, a Solidworks model is self aware. The model pictured below knows that it is sheet metal, and when I tell it to bend in a certain place it knows that 11 Ga. steel bends with a particular radius, not a perfectly crisp sharp edge. So you don’t draw the bend but input the parameters of the bend and it models the results. I also built the model with certain design variables. When I want to change one of those variables the model then changes itself to conform to those modifications. For example, the part below has a few slots; I created those slots by referring the model to a "slot width" value, which is 1/4". There is also an overall "edge offset" value, which partially controls how close the outset edge comes to those slots; it is set at 1/2". This model is a part of a clamp which I have designed to accommodate material as thin as 1/4" and as thick as 2-1/8".

On the left hand side of the image you can see some of the variables I mentioned above. If I edit those equations and change the slot width to 1/16", the edge offset to 1/4" and the max surface to 1" the model changes the open-ended aspects of its form to accommodate those new parameters...

Pretty cool huh? So I am hoping that this tool, coupled with the plasma cutting capabilities of my CNC will allow for a smooth design/prototype redesign/prototype cycle with each of the Domestic Clamps.

new work (finally!)

This is what I've been working on since mid-October. It's a series of 23 vessels, all slip cast from a set of 10 molds that are stacked and re-stacked in multiple configurations. The technical framework of the piece is still grounded in mass production, and more specifically, the idea that mass production techniques can be altered to produce variations rather than duplicates.

"Area Codes"

ceramics, automotive paint, chrome, neoprene, and wood
30" x 154"

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Back to the CNC

Mending

I've spent the last few days working on a project which moved directly from the back of my head to the front burner upon the realization that I had 'misrescheduled' a crit. The genesis for this project came from a dark, lonely night in the studio when I was feeling a bit stagnant. It had always bothered me that the previous occupant(s) of my studio neglected to give the work bench proper respect and managed to wantonly drill into it over and over. As if a work bench is expendable scrap wood. I took it upon myself to heal the bench, restore some of its dignity, by filling those wounds with stainless steel set screws. Recently I have been feeling like a fair amount of my time at Cranbrook has been spent fixing other people's fuck ups. This project is partly a commentary on that feeling of resentment, partly a good old fashioned charrette, partly an opportunity to explore the life objects live in their photos, and partly another opportunity to explore my interest in joints.