For this midterm project, we were assigned the task of making a working mechanical model based on one of the 507 mechanical movements displayed on this website.

I initially was very inspired by the Dimensions Kinetic Sculpture as seen here. I wanted to make a mechanical model similar to it, so I based the mechanical movement I chose on what would best be able to recreate the movement of the Dimensions Kinetic Sculpture.

I chose mechanical movement 55 because I could use it to make the forward and backward gear move in opposite directions which is what the Dimensions Kinetic Sculpture seems to do.

First, I created a 2D drawing of the movement on Adobe Illustrator (Figure 1).

Then, for my low fidelity prototype, I laser cut just the movement design out of cardboard (Figure 2).

I was so surprised to see that the gears actually fit together very well and that they actually turned each other (Figure 3). I was expecting them to not fit together at all, since I had drawn the teeth on Adobe Illustrator by hand. I tried to use the gear generator online, but then I realized that the teeth were different from the ones on the mechanical movement website, so I decided that even though it would take more time and effort, it would be better to recreate the teeth like shown in the mechanical model animation.

After cutting them out of cardboard and testing whether or not the gears would turn properly, I cut them out of wood. The wood ones worked just as well, so after that, I quickly moved on to improving the low fidelity prototype to include a base and handle to turn the gears.

Again, I made the prototypes out of cardboard at first because its faster and cheaper (Figures 4 and 5). After ensuring that the finger joints for the base pieces would fit together and that the gears were able to be turned, I cut out

the pieces in wood to make a medium fidelity prototype. At that point, I had the basics of the mechanical movement created. Now, I had to decide how exactly I wanted to decorate it and how exactly I wanted to add features to it. I ended up recreating the Dimensions swirl on Adobe Illustrator and merging it with the outside gear of the mechanical movement 55 to make up the bottom swirl piece (Figure 6). I also made a top swirl piece that sat on top and was attached to the middle sized gear. By putting the top piece on top though, the gear mechanism was covered up, and I thought about cutting the middle out of acrylic so that you could see the gears inside turning. However, in the end, I decided not to because I liked the look of the wood and because I didn’t have enough time to test and prototype making the wooden swirls with acrylic in the middle.

I was worried that my design wouldn’t work and that I’d have to go in and adjust it a lot, but when it finished

laser cutting, it came out just how I wanted it (Figure 7). I then attached it to the wooden medium fidelity prototype that I was constructing, and it actually fit quite perfectly (Figure 8). Afterwards, I laser cut out the top swirl piece and added it on top (Figure 9). However, the problem I faced was getting it to turn smoothly. It kept getting stuck whenever I tried to turn it.

Also, the handle I put to turn it was hard to hold and turn smoothly. Consequently, I decided to make a lever and handle for the turning mechanism. I also thought that part of the reason for the unsmooth turning was the hot glue that I used, since it stuck out as seen in Figure 8. Using wood glue instead would probably help solve the problem, but hot glue was good to use because it was easy to take off it I messed up, and I could reuse pieces by taking off the glue.

 

 

 

Now, I had to figure out how I wanted to decorate my mechanical model. Dr. Wettergreen gave me this really cool idea about having it show an animation when you spin it like a zoetrope (Figure 10). I really liked this idea and tried to make a prototype for it, but when I tested it out, it didn’t seem as animated as the ones I saw online. By this time, I didn’t have much time left, so I decided that I would focus on trying to improve the prototype I already had and hopefully continue looking into the zoetrope idea after finishing the midterm assignment. In the end, I though it’d be cool if I stained all of the pieces with danish oil and also etched the top swirl with a flower design, since the middle space seemed kind of empty (Figures 11 and 12).

Afterwards, I also decided to plasma cut the ring holding the bottom swirl in place out of metal so that it would help it turn smoother and would look cool too. The plasma cutter cut out the metal ring quite well. It had quite a bit of dross and jagged edges, but after a while of filing and sandblasting, I was able to get it smooth (Figures 13, 14, 15, and 16). I also coated the metal in one of the oils that said it kept metals from rusting so that it would last a long time and be smoother.

Finally, I put all of the pieces together using wood glue to create my high fidelity prototype (Figures 17 and 18). At the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to create a mechanical model like this, but now, I’m really glad that I decided to go this route because I really like how it turned out. The whole process of making this was really cool and fun too. I always looked forward to when I went to the OEDK to work on this project because laser cutting all of the pieces and figuring out how to make it work was really cool. I’m glad that this was one of our projects, and now I feel much more comfortable with the laser cutter and plasma cutter as well as the OEDK itself.