Week 4
Collaboration with a classmate as well as an updated Design of the Ring Chain Element
Last updated
Collaboration with a classmate as well as an updated Design of the Ring Chain Element
Last updated
With Lucy, we came up with the idea of combining my ring chain element with her cone. The circle cutout in the middle of the ring chain element served as a possibility to put in a cone.
We decided to synchronize the scale of our elements in tinker cad and printed them.
For this print, I also designed a new ring connector element. I tried to add a mesh design for the section between the two rings for aesthetic purposes.
After the print was done we tested the connection between the different pieces. The new connector element turned out to be quite flimsy around the mesh part (I printed it with a thickness of 0.7 mm). After bending it a few times, the element broke.
Then we connected the ring chain elements and Lucy's cone together. We conducted a stability test by filling the cone with screws.
The connection worked well and we measured our pieces so the cone could sit perfectly within the ring chain element. However, while conducting the stability test one of the open rings started to bend heavily (The right ring in the image).
I decided to redesign the ring chain element since it was my favourite design and it was already working well as a modular element. I conducted a redesign to improve the stability of the ring connectors as well as the overall ascetics of the component.
At first, I increased the size of the thickness of the main hexagon element to one millimetre. I added more different hexagons with the widest one having a thickness of 0.5mm and the middle one 0.75mm. This created a nice-looking stair effect. Additionally, I added some detailing on the corner of the hexagon.
I also increased the thickness of the rings to 1mm and added a wide ring layer with a thickness of 0.75mm.
I also added a name tag detail (thickness 1mm) to the edge of the hexagon.
Overall, the design turned out quite nicely and aesthetically.
However, the print didn't work out properly in the end. I printed with eh quality 0.15mm settings however it was not enough to recreate my fine details.
It was still possible to connect two elements together.
I also tried to come up with ideas on how to fill the circle cutout in the middle of the design. I wanted some kind of mesh. I found this hexagon mesh design on the internet and added it to the ring chain element.
For printing, I've tried to scale the element up in order for the printer to print with increased details. As with the previous print, this also didn't work out. Printing this element took forever (1.25 h).
