Digital Tectonics: Robotic Fabrication

-Eddie, Giacomo, Craig, Matt

This 12″ x 12″ x 1/2″ piece of corian was milled utilizing line tool paths on the 3 axis cnc mill.  The side of deeper relief was milled with a 1/2″ ballnose bit, and the side of more shallow relief was milled with a 1.5″ ballnose bit.  The lines of the two different sides of the piece were milled perpendicular to each other in order a create unique patterns when light shines through the material.  The design is based on the previously generated height-field of a random image as seen in our Paperstone Points project.

-Chris Gallot, Jaclyn Paceley, Spencer Gregson

This is a 24″ x 24″ x 3″ sign-foam surface milled on the three axis cnc mill using parallel finishing with a 1/2″ ballnose bit.  The design was generated from an earlier practice mill using the sign-foam; the area of greatest interest and height difference was selected from a larger overall image and then tiled in an offset pattern.  The back of the piece is milled with the inverse of the same surface that was scaled down on the z-axis.

-Chris Gallot, Jaclyn Paceley, Spencer Gregson

This 12″ x 12″ x 1″ piece of paperstone was milled on the 3 axis cnc mill using a 1.5″ ball nose bit in a breakchip drilling path.  The point pattern was generated through the creation of a height-field from a random image in rhino.  This height-field was then brought into grasshopper to assign points in a varying density according to height, with the highest points in the image collecting a denser collection of points than the lower areas of the image.  These images show the resulting final product.

-Chris Gallot, Jaclyn Paceley, Spencer Gregson

SITE / CONTEXT

How site specific is it?

Where in CFA Great Hall does it go?

Does it have to be in the center?

Is there an opportunity at the edges / stairs / ramps?

Does it wrap columns, etc?

Is the context understood as a passive volume or a active context?

How does this relate to scale / context / view?

What is the role of lighting? How does this facilitate ones reading of the object?

Is there artificial lighting? If so, what type? Why?

Is this visible?

Is this a new landscape? Or is wall the context?

TECTONICS

Is what we are doing about the material? Or is this simply a proxy?

Does form trump material? If so how and why?

What is the role of tectonics / the connection / joint?

Do we communicate tectonic connections to CFA?

Is it panelized?

Is there an obvious sub-structure?

Is it monolithic / skeletal?

How evident is the module? Assuming there is a module?

Is it finite (a closed system)? Or suggest expandability or redeployment?

How does panelization / modularity inform section?

Is it ‘one’ material thick / thin?

USE

Does it have function?

What? Why?

Is the ‘function’ or ‘use’ singular?

Is it interactive, in so far as moving parts / responsive?

What is the role of the user?

How many users can experience the installation at a given time?

Internally and Externally?

Is it experience at one elevation? Where is the horizon?

Does it float above the floor?

What is the tactile component?

Is there one?

How fragile is it?

What is the correlation between interaction and function?

What is the cycle of use of the space?

Which of these do we interact with?

PROCESS

If the immediate context is backed out of the initial discussion, what is driving what we are doing?

What is the merit of the thing unto itself?

Screen?

Is this planar?

How does this relate to both sides? – YES!

Is this hierarchical?

How do we take advantage of a rare piece of technology?

What the attributes of this tool / What makes it unique from other tools in the lab?

Is it entirely about this tool alone?

The tool is a means for making what we are doing? A means to a greater end.

Attributes of the tool:

can carve variable section

many different ways to do the ‘same’ thing – what are the different consequences of these different methods / paths / etc?

the sequence for carving is perhaps less critical

precision / digital craft – can this be done by hand, only more slowly?

Replication of components

Attributes of software:

Trace of tool – control over toolpaths and resulting surface patterns

Relationship tool pattern and surface pattern

What is the role of authorship?

Here are some pictures of our piece for project 3. The idea with this project was to experiment with the different finishing patterns that MasterCam allows for. We used both radial and parallel finishes on the foam. Two intersecting surfaces were each given their own finish pattern in an effort to further differentiate the surfaces. One of the sides was much more controlled than the other based upon the parameters set when preparing the mill file. We found that some of the results we got with looser parameters were actually very interesting because of the patterns created by where the bit entered and exited the foam.

-jared, puja, and nelly

This project involved using lines as toolpaths through MasterCam. The formation of the pattern was similar to our first project with the points – for the first side we used Grasshopper to create a hex grid that included attractor points. For the second side of the corian plate, we used each point in the existing hex grid, and placed the center points of hexagons on these points. The sizes of the hexagons were then determined by the same attractor points.

In our first pass we experimented cutting all the way through the corian in certain hexagons. For the second attempt we pocketed out holes instead of cutting all the way through in an effort to explore the translucency of the material. The piece contained some very exciting moments where you can see through the material and understand the relationship between the two patterns.

-jared, puja, and nelly

This project was an introduction to MasterCam, using only points to inform the drillbit where to go. We used Grasshopper as a plugin for rhino to program ‘attractor’ points that acted as magnets for other points in the point field. The attractor points influenced the points in all 3 axis. We ran into some problems in the final mill while attempting to translate points directly in MasterCam. This caused an unexpected shift in the y direction, which threw off the alignment of holes.

-jared, puja, and nelly