The Sassy Owl: Kathryn Garn and Jhalak Mehta

Planning 

To start the planning process for our midterm, we looked to the old midterm projects for inspiration. We liked the idea of the flower pot with the flowers translating up and down so decided to also do the cam and follower movement (#96). 

Once we knew we wanted something translating up and down, we were able to begin brainstorming all potential ideas and thought an owl would be a fun homage to Rice. This idea also gave us the perfect opportunity to inject our personalities into it by giving it some sassy features. From this, we determined we wanted a single eyebrow to move up and down as well as her sunglasses, which would be pink and heart-shaped of course. We were able to begin by drawing our initial concept, then made a more detailed sketch to show the different layers and how the various components would fit together. We chose to use one cam for the two followers and wanted them to move in opposite directions, which we thought could be possible with a snail cam. Through this, we did rough calculations of the lengths of the followers and the sizes of the openings needed to make this functional, as well as the dimensions of the cam. These were then translated into Adobe files which helped move us into the low-fidelity prototyping stage.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

After we built our illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, we were ready to create a low-fidelity prototype using cardboard. Since our original size was going to be about a foot tall, we decided to scale the low-fidelity down to half the size (6-inch height). Our cardboard model included the two eyebrows, the snail cam, two followers, sunglasses, and a cut-out of the owl itself. When we put the owl together, we used a screw to connect the cam to the owl, and glue to connect the follower to the eyebrows and sunglasses. 

The cam really did not have a predetermined connection point to the owl, so we guesstimated where it should be. Turns out the followers were far too long, and of course, because it was cardboard, it was not functional. However, we learned that we should laser cut a point on the owl which marks the cam’s position, laser cut brackets for the followers so they do not get pushed to the side, ensure the size of the slots is the same as the straight edge of the snail cam, and change the sizes of the followers so they fit the highest and lowest point on the slots. 

The low-fidelity prototyping helped us consider certain points that we otherwise would have overlooked. Once these adjustments were made in Illustrator, we were ready to cut on wood! 

 

 

 

Medium-Fidelity Prototype

For our medium-fidelity prototype, we cut our snail cam using the plasma cutter. The hole in the plasma cutter did not cut all the way through so we utilized the drill press to completely cut through. Worked like a charm. The scale for the medium-fidelity was full-sized (12-inch height), and all the other laser-cut parts were adjusted to meet that scale. Everything was cut on wood, except the sunglasses were cut on acrylic. Since this one included the raster cut for the eyes and toes, it took several tries before we got it right. That was because there was an extra vector line bordering the eyes and toes that we were not aware of until after the job was done (Oops!). An attempt was made to glue the pieces back on, but it was not very successful. Does it now look like a pirate?!?

 

After all the pieces were cut, assembly began! The cam was attached to the owl with a dowel, and little brackets were made as recommended. The sunglasses and eyebrows were glued to the followers using a combination of wood and super glue. When we tested its functionality, it did not quite work because the followers kept getting stuck while moving along the cam. This was because the cam was way too steep for the rollers to travel up. Therefore, we decided to add some rollers to the cam thinking that would solve it all. Guess what? It did not. We drilled a hole in the followers and used washers as rollers but the followers still kept getting stuck. We assumed that was because the cam was flushed to the wood while the followers were not because of the screw holding the washer. Therefore, we put all our might into getting the cam and follower the same height from the wood. This was achieved by putting extra wood pieces under the follower and washers under the cam to align everything. Unfortunately, all our Wednesday night 12 am efforts failed. It was a very disappointing night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once everything was assembled, we received some feedback on why our mechanism was not working and also brainstormed some solutions! 

1. Problem: The metal cam was too thin, so the follower kept slipping off of it. Solution: Place a bracket not just to the side of the followers, but also for the little ones on top. Also, make the cam a little thicker (stack metal on metal).
2. Problem: The acrylic glasses were far too heavy for the follower, so they kept falling off. Solution: The piece connecting the wood to the glasses should not be made of wood (make it out of acrylic or metal). The slots and the follower can also be made thicker than they are.
3. Problem: The follower kept getting stuck at a certain point because the cam was too steep, so the follower could not travel up it. Solution: Change the shape of the cam or change the steepness of the cam. The rollers will not be necessary if the steepness is correct.

The owl was really living up to its sassiness. The failed mechanism disappointed us but we were ready to address all these issues in our final prototype! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High-Fidelity Prototype

Moving into our high-fidelity prototype, we had a number of things we wanted to prioritize addressing. These included thickening up the followers, changing the shape of the cam, using wood for the cam to increase surface area for the followers to catch on, thickening up connections between the followers and eyebrow/sunglasses by using a stronger material, and decreasing the sunglass size. To do these things, we had to largely redesign the owl body, as the slot sizes changed, and the followers had to be adjusted for the new cam shape. It was fun making a little “animated” version of the movement to see how it would all fit together as the cam rotated!

Once these changes were made to the files, we once again joined the long cue for the laser cutter. We had some issues with the laser cutting, as initially the printer tried rastering everything (including the outer vector cuts) in the combo mode, even with the correct stroke lengths inputted. Our next issue came when sending the file, as it was giving a time of 0.0 to completion, an obvious error. We separated everything into layers to get raster vs vector but had to also separate the raster layers to figure out which pieces were causing trouble. Once those were identified, we had to remake and copy them into the file for printing, a long and tedious process. We finally got the main components printed in wood, and were able to do the new sunglasses and connection points for the items moving in acrylic. For this version, we not only needed it functional, but also post-processed, so before gluing everything, we did simulated testing and then began post-processing.

All wood pieces were sanded, and some were connected (like the brackets) before getting stained with Tung Oil. We chose this stain to bring out the natural color of the wood and draw greater attention to the color in other areas of the design. Since there were no options for colored acrylic, we chose to buy a glitter nail polish to give her some pizazz. It worked! Pizazz was added! We painted one size of the glasses then flipped it around for a smooth outer finish. For our metal piece, we plasma cut a bow, and then vinyl cut the inner components to round out the piece – both of which added to the functionality of Sassy Owl’s personality. We chose to stain the base and supports a simple black to not detract from the rest of the piece, and because we liked the smooth look of it, and ended up painting her toenails with some leftover polish while waiting on other components to dry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once everything was all together, we had some issues with the cam, as the press fit meant nothing was capping it at the front, and the turning motion caused it to pull away from the owl, which made the followers off-track. We attempted gluing another dowel to the one holding the cam to the body to lengthen it enough to add a bearing as a cap, but the wood glue and epoxy (seperately) were not strong enough when we began turning the cam. We tried this approximately 5x before deciding it was good enough if people routinely pushed it flush against the owl while spinning. Even with the thicker connection point, we also had a bit of trouble with our glasses, as their weight caused them to angle on the front, with the bottom dipping in towards the face rather than remaining parallel. After the glasses fell off, we decided to add small nuts to the bottom of each glass to keep them an even distance from the face, which worked pretty well! To speed up the gluing process (ugh epoxy), we tried using the heat gun… which kind of worked until it got so hot that it bent our sunglasses. While this was initially unintentional, it served to bend the sunglasses into the face on the edges, similar to how true sunglasses are! We finally got her all assembled, slightly lifting one foot to give her an extra pop of sass with her angled body. 

While our high-fidelity prototype still has some friction issues, we definitely know what we would do differently if we did this again, so it was a good learning experience. Also, we are freaking proud of ourselves! This took a whole lot of time and Sassy Owl looks great in our opinion, even if she is only functional when you push the cam in the right way and help keep the followers on the track. After getting feedback from Wettergreen we’ve come to understand that acrylic glue is a thing (cool) and the brackets should be fully flush with the followers to keep them in line (good to know). Beyond those minor details, we feel good about what we accomplished and are proud to say we completed the midterm challenge, and have Sassy Owl to show for it. 

 

Miscellaneous:

Presentation

Video

 

Cost-Analysis: Labor + Material = $585.5 for Sassy Owl

Material Costs:

Wood: 2 sheets @ $8.85 per sheet = $17.70 

Metal: 1 sheet @ $15.93 = $15.93 

Acrylic: 1 sheet @ $4.28 = $4.28 

Vinyl Sticker: 1 roll @ $5.05 = $5.05 

Black Stain: 1 can @ $12.78 = $12.78

Clear Stain: 1 can @ $28.28 

Clear Coat: 1 can @ $6.48

Total: $90.50

Labor Costs:

Combined Hours: (60 hrs x $7.25  = $435)

Membership for the MakerBarn in Houston which provides access to machines and a space to work =  $60/month  for 2 people

Total: $495