Finished at Last

The model above is 1:5 scale. I got to use the laser cutter for the first time to make this model and one other model which was quite fun, if you have never seen a laser cutter working before I recommend you watch this video and find yourself a laser cutter to have a go with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3iTXx6P6Ec.

The laser cutter unfortunately could not completely cut though the 6mm thick wood completely, leaving me to spend a good 10 minutes trying to cut though with a scalpel. 

Once this was done I took the pieces home and spend several hours covering them with several coatings of brown paint tinted with red to get a nice deep woody color, once dry I glued the pieces into place with proxy resin and left them overnight. The next day a glued a section of a plastic wallet to the top half of the model to act as a perspex layer, that may be inserted in the stand if loose paper is to be displayed. 

I used illustrator to make both the final measurement sheet you see above and my previous schematics.

Catches

My intentions for how the separating segments would attach together (and still be able to unattach without causing damage) is a dowel joint, however when I had a tutorial at uni my tutor didn't think this would be secure enough so asked my to investigate small catches to attach to the wood just to secure the place where the segments join. I found one catch in my home on a book and made another one myself.

Angles Again

I made this small scale model of one of the joints from my stand so I could demonstrate that the halving joint i was using would be both secure and strong, and also that I could get the angles right. The model is actually about 5 degrees incorrect but this was dew to an error whilst cutting the wood not my measurements. 

The lines you can see on the top are incorrect.

The measurements, full scale drawing.

Joints

Joints

How the segments would be assembled together, was something a started to develop very early. Even with my first sketches I had a rough idea of how I would accomplish this using notches and dowel joints to hold the segments in place as shown in my sketch below.

It was also evident with time that I needed to look more seriously into joints that would be strong, stable and aesthetically pleasing for the corners of the segments, and after a talk with my tutor, the connecting parts of the 2 half segments.

I decided to use wood for my stand not only because my personal tastes but also for its simplicity, warmth, timeless look and ease to work with. There are many types of joints associated with woodwork, such as the ones shown below:

• ·         Butt Joint

The butt joint is the most basic and simple joint to construct because it is made with 2 pieces of timber that are butted together at the ends, however this joint isn't very strong, in fact it is the weakest joint that is used in woodwork. This joint can be held together with glue, nails, screws or dowel etc. Because the butt joint is so weak and not very aesthetically pleasing, it is only used in basic woodwork projects.

• ·         Mitre Joint

A mitre joint is very similar to a butt joint as it is easy to construct, however the mitre joint is marginally stronger and has much greater aesthetics. The reason why this type of joint is stronger than a butt joint is because the ends are cut at a 45° angle and then glued together, this creates better surface area for adhesive to be applied while also concealing the end of the wood giving it a nice look. The mitre joint is very common on picture frames.

• ·         Halving Joint

This joint is the one I originally chose to use in my original sketch (above) I still stand by this decision however this already awkward to construct joint will be made more difficult as my 2 joining of pieces of timber will be at an angle. The halving joint is mainly used in framework and is awkward to construct because it consists of 2 channels that interlock, which are bonded together with adhesive (glue) and sometimes a nail or screw. This type of woodwork joint is very useful for supporting 2 pieces of timber instead of just simply nailing or screwing them together. It consists of 2 pieces of timber that have 2 channels cut half the thickness of both pieces of timber to produce a flush interlocking joint which allows the 2 pieces of wood to pass through each other.

• ·         Dowel Joint

This is the joint I originally thought of using to secure the 2 separating segments of my stand only without the glue. Dowel is useful for greatly increasing the strength of weaker woodwork joints such as the butt joint. This type of joint is secured with an adhesive and a small piece of dowel, construction is simple and requires nothing more than a drill and some accurate markings. The dowel joint is assembled the same way you would screw a regular joint together only pieces of dowel are glued and inserted into holes instead of screws.

• ·         Biscuit Joint

Unlike other joints mentioned biscuit joints less common woodwork joints. This is because there aren't many places where this joint is more useful than any other joint. As its name suggests biscuit joints are secured with pieces of timber that are in the shape of a biscuit and these pieces of timber help to prevent movement and add strength. This joint is mainly used to join large timber boards together such as the ones you will find on table tops.

• ·         Tongue and Groove Joint

A tongue and groove joint is a unique woodwork joint that is attached edge to edge with two or more pieces of timber. It is made with one edge consisting of a slot that runs down the entire length of the timber and a tongue which fits into the slot. This groove and tongue feature creates a reasonably strong and aesthetically pleasing joint that can be used in areas such as floorboards, lining boards, wood panelling and table tops. Also you don’t often require much timber with this joint because it is used as more of a feature in most furniture so there usually isn’t a lot of it used

• ·         Mortise and Tenon Joint

The mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest and most appealing woodwork joints able to be made because of its flush fitting design, it can be difficult to properly construct.This woodwork joint consist of a tongue that is secured into a slot and it is used in areas such as table legs. For structural areas like these the joint must be tight fitting to ensure maximum strength but also to achieve a neat flush look. There are slightly different versions of this woodwork joint which include double tenons, twin tenons and haunched mortises and tenons.

Given the different types of joints and their purposes, it was decided with my tutor that a halving joint (also known as a lapping joint) would offer the best strength and durability for the way my stand is designed. It would offer a simple way to affix hook mechanisms to one of the pieces, allowing it to be flat packed successfully for transport.

Card Model

These images are the first stage of my life size scale cardboard model, the angle is 70 degrees. 

The aim of creating this model is for me to text if the height and size is right.  

The next stage of my model is to add on the sides. This was difficult because I was using cardboard which bends easily to replicate 3cm thick wood, the model got a bit miss-shaped through out the process but I still got an accurate height which was my goal.

This images show that an A2 sized piece of card does indeed fit on my stand however (accidentally labeled it as A3) I was worried that any loose pieces of A2 paper placed on the stand would fall through the gap (the non colored in area)  so I decided to do an experiment to test this.

First of all I cut out the spare card in the piddle of my sides so that I only had the edges, I then cut out the other side so that it was 10 cm less wide and tall and tried to place a vertical piece of A3 on the stand to see if it would stay in place.

As you can see the larger side failed.  Prompting me to slightly change the measurements of my design, I am glad to note that the height was correct.

Angles

The angles on my portfolio stand have proven to be an area for investigation, due to difficulties had. Whilst the angle I estimated in my original design sketch, where the portfolios will be displayed, seemed to be correct and effective by my first card model, the angles where the 2 sections crossover have been problematic.

The space where the portfolio is placed is a 70 degree angle. At the point of 35 degrees, he middle points directly upwards form the center of the stand. Now my first attempt at working out the angles of the center crossover was with a scale drawing. The original intention of the drawing was:
1)To give me a more accurate diagram of how the product/stand would look.
2)  So could work out the length of the 2 sections, as the desired height was 80cm; being the stand was angled made this a bit more awkward to work out so I drew the drawing at a scale of 1:10 and measured the length and then multiplied it by 10.

Of course it just now occurs to me now that I could have just measured the angles from my scale drawing.  What I actually did to try and work out the angles was to quickly create a very basic model of my stand on 3DS Max as i did not have my first model and then measured the angle from the computer screen. Unfortunately in rushing this model I entered some information wrong and ended up with incorrect information.

I realized this error after I drew up (with what I thought were accurate measurements, shown below) a schematic of the portfolio stand on illustrator to show my tutor. It was immediately obvious to both of us that two things were wrong. 

1) The angle, what was meant to be a 70 degree angle was somehow 30 degrees. After the tutorial, I managed to draw a complete, full scale drawing and accurate sketch of the cross section and finally got it right.

2) The cut section in the design looked too thin. I eventually realized that in trying to make the cut out pieces so the 3cm wide sections would fit, I had measured the side of the wood at 3cm and not the pathway in the wood piece itself. 

Material Choice, Wood.

Wood 

This stand was one of my original ideas, along with 2 others I developed it as a model with 3DS Max, I then spent some time considering things such as the materials I wanted to make the stands from, the way they would be assembled, how they would be transported, if I was adjustable etc.  Eventually chose The Cross Stand as I named it, the stand would be made from wood. Not mdf (medium density fiberboard) or anything similar but real solid wood from trees.

Wood is a personal favorite material of mine so I decided to use it for my stand. I spent some time considering the possibility of using decorative carvings on the separate segments of the stand but then discarded the idea when I received feedback from some other students on my course who complimented the simplicity and symmetry of the design, and decided to keep it that way.

I considered maple and mahogany for the material for my stand to be made from. Maple, because it is one of the most commonly used woods in furniture and also other things such as tool handles and even cue sticks (which are also known as pool cues, snooker cues or billiards cues). It is commonly used because it ages and discolours less than other woods and is moderately priced. Whereas mahogany is a tropical wood, it is resistant to insects, rot and water damage and seepage, I personally think it is a beautiful wood and even more so as it can be polished to a high sheen and is easily stained, however it is more expensive. It is most commonly used to make musical instruments such as drums, guitars, violins and grand pianos because the mahogany wood gives a warm sound.

I found this website to be great help in my research of woods and I would advise anyone else interested to check it out. http://www.finefurnituremaker.com/beautiful_hardwoods.htm

From Inspiration to Sketches to Computer Modling

This stand originally was in my personal sketchbook and not to do with my university course, it was meant to be a laptop stand that enabled people to sit on the ground but not to have to hunch over to use it. I decided that it could fit a similar purpose in my module so I decided to develop it in 3DS max. As I did I decided that it wasn't aesthetically pleasing to me and discarded it as the stand to focus on.

This was my second stand, I wanted to create a display stand that was really simplistic using only basic shapes and materials which is why I created this in 3DS max before sketching it. The intention behind this design is to be a portfolio stand created to hold A2 paper size, it could also hold A1. It will have a fairly low height at somewhere between 60 to 90cm allowing the user to simply flick through the images with there hands with out having to bend.

I loved the shape and I received positive feedback from the other students on my course for this design so I have decided that this will be the design I will focus upon to fully develop.

This is the 3rd completed 3DS max model I made, it follows on from the previous model in the aspect that it is built to hold A2 portfolios. This stand is vertical, the idea being that the designer would put there portfolio inside one of the 8 slots and then that the viewer can walk around it in a circle and look at all of the images inside.

The model would be assembled from a flatpack and would probably be made from mdf. An additional table should be provided to raise the stand off the ground for better viewing.