Ex lab journal

TWO FOOLS DANCING

EX-LAB SEMESTER II| 2017

ADAM MARKOWITZ RANDAL KOHN

NEISIVIKHO ZUTSO 645771

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TABLE OF CONTENT TASK 1 5 STOOL 1 9 STOOL 2 25 PROTOTYPING

STAGE I STAGE II STAGE III Type I Type II Type III Type IV Type V

DESIGN ITERATIONS SMALL SCALE

PLASTICINE SKETCHES I HAND SKETCHES VIRTUAL SKETCHES PLASTICINE SKETCHES II FINAL SKETCH FINAL

STAGE I JIG STAGE II FINALE

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OUTRO 136 3

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Task 1 Tool Box

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For the first exercise of making the tool box. Dylan and I decided to achieve the making of the toolbox through dry fit. Using the technique of joining all the edges using just finger joints.

It turn out to be pretty difficult, as our skill level was not quite in par with the idea. The precision of the finger joins were not as accurate, although we did manage quite a snug fit by leaving offsets and sanding off the over protruding “fingers�. Since I arrived late for the task, time was not on our side. We had to sacrifice the dry fit and use glue and screws.

The only dry fitting were the dowels which was the handle piece of the tool box. Each side of the ply cuts where the dowel stuck were drilled into, not through but as a pocket at almost the same diameter of the dowel. This allowed the dowel to fit in quite snug.

The bottom piece was marked and screwed. Before the screws were put, it was drilled to make sure the ply did not crack through over packing of material.

Overall, the tool box seem to have been a great exercise jut to get in touch with most of the machinery available in the making space.

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STOOL I MACHINE BASED 3D PRINTERS

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PRECEDENTS

WALNUT TABLE BY VERA SHUR*

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SREW STOOL BY HANS VAN SINDEREN**

*http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/community/project-gallery/walnut-table-prototype-using-3d-printing **http://www.hansvansinderen.nl/screw-stool/

DIMENSIONS

78 mm ø 12

430 mm

520 mm

166 ° 76° 216 mm

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PROTOTYPE

PLAN

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ISOMETRIC

SECTION

COMPONENTS

DOWEL SLEEVE

DOWELS

TENSION WIRES

FEET

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ASSEMBLY

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MOULD MAKING

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3D printed piece

Mould Framework

Negative Mould

Silicone mould

Ready for pouring resin

Resin Moulded pieces

ASSEMBLY: MOULDED PIECES

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ASSEMBLY: ENTIRETY

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STOOL 1 The machine that was given to us to fabricate our stool was the 3D printer. The advantage of 3D printing is to create a tangible piece of object almost accurately designed virtually on a computer. But the challenge we came across was the expense and time of using the state-of-the-art 3D printers.

We decided to settle on the standard PLA 3D printers which limited the printing capability both in terms of accuracy and quality but it was good enough to move forward with our goal of mass producing multiple pieces of a modular system which would be assemble together at the end.

In order to reduce the difference in accuracy between each of the 3D printed models, we decided to print 1 piece and make a mould from it and reproduce resin casted pieces from it. This saved us a lot of time from 3D printing as 1 piece took us overnight to print while the resin casted took about 20-30 minutes to be produced. We had about 27 connecting pieces.

We were quite pleased with the outcome of the 3D printed piece as both ends of the joints, after tolerance, printed quite accurately. The reproduced resin casted pieces when connected with other were fairly snug fitting.

The introduction of the timber pieces connected to the artificially produced pieces was quite successful.

A personal taste in contrast in materials, formal language of sharp angular cuts, the aesthetic look in the dialogue between the material in their difference but complimenting colour and texture.

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STOOL II MATERIAL BASED 3mm PLYWOOD

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STOOL 2 For the second stool we got given the material plywood (not more than 3mm) to build our furniture from.

Although ply is manufactured by overlaying sheets of thin timber sheets at 90 degrees at each overlay which is suppose to strengthen both along the grain and across the grain of the plywood. The 3mm ply seemed to be stronger on one side of the running of the grain and very flexible on the opposite.

We explored the material properties of 3mm ply through prototyping (as in pic). This led us to the final design of our stool 2.

Laminating multiple ply together strengthen the flimsy nature of a single sheet of the material. We also discovered that laminating the just ends (about 1/3 of the entirety) created a spring like structure which behaved like a cushion under load.

The challenge was to fit in both the findings in our prototyping into our stool 2. We considered and played around with the idea of interconnecting pieces of the spring-like structure to create a whole. We also decided to make one which was simple and pure.

For the simple one, the lengths of the sheets that were going to be stuck together were per-determined. The holes were introduced for the ply to be dry fitted instead of using glue, as the accuracy of applying glue along a certain distance along the length of the sheet would be difficult. These holes were punctured in every single sheet in equal distance from the edges of the sheet. This allowed the dowel fit in through the hole and both ends of the edges to form the base of the stool. The ply sheets to be in were flexed into the arch-like position and tightly stuck and held together at the base without using glue when the small dowels were introduce as to stop the ply flexing away to return to its original flat form.

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PROTOTYPING

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STAGE I

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BATZEK COLLECTION YAEL TANDLER |2012 The earliest precedent I was looking at was the Batzek collection by Yael Tandler. He was experimenting with balloons as moulds while casting concrete inside it. He would then create a series of pieces stretching, bending and inserting wooden pieces on the concrete while still setting. This would create new forms while the insertion would be used as structural and connecting element.

I was pleased at how two different materials were interacting with each other especially how the materials were connected to each other.

Aesthetically it was really satisfying to look at.

I though it was really clever and I wanted to try approaching my prototypes with a similar aim in mind.

Interaction of fluid material with solid material and how they would interact with each other through connection or jointing system. The only way I was going to achieve this was by using a vessel for the liquid material as Yael used balloons for the concrete, I was to find my own materials.

I was quite certain of how I wanted my furniture to be at the end as in I had a vague but clear thought about it, to not to be fragmented pieces of joints but a unified piece which would have multiple points of connections.

39 https://www.designboom.com/readers/yael-tandler-batzek-bowl-stool-collection/

PLASTER| ELASTANE I

Materials used: Cast: Quick Setting Plaster of Paris Mould: Lycra sheet Additional: Radiata Pine

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1:1 test on how plaster of Paris would interact with wood. The aim of this experiment was to produce a smooth surface produced by the stretching or relaxing of the Lycra fabric sheet when the plaster was casted.

A hole was cut to introduce for the wooden stick to plaster. The introduction of the stick to see how stable and structurally strong the connection the between the two materials would form, and possibly guide me to pursue it as system for my furniture.

The issues I faced were the consistency of mixing the plaster with water and casting into the fabric. The mixing did not produce a creamy texture which would smoothly sit on the Lycra but rather a patches of inconsistent crumbs of solids. This resulted the surface of the surface interacting with the Lycra to be not smooth but inconsistent and bumpy.

The connection between the wood and the plaster was not great either as too much pocket of air formed by the patches of solid disallowing the entire surface area stuck inside the paster to be connected. This also contributed to the cracking of the plaster when it was demoulded.

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PLASTER| ELASTANE II

Materials used: Cast: Quick Setting Plaster of Paris Mould: Lycra sheet Additional: Radiata Pine

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With the second test. I decided to make the mixture to be more in the state of liquid. This would allow me smoothly pour the plaster on the fabric. A little bit of water stated seeping out of the fabric and the weight of the plaster started to over-stretch the fabric in places I hopping not to, as in I wanted the lowest point of the bulge to be point of connection between the plaster and the wood. However, the end result seemed really promising. The plaster had a smooth surface and connection between the wood and the plaster was solid, very strong.

Although I was quite happy with the result, there was no real control over the fabric stretching. The plaster was also very brittle and the thin top was stating to chip away. This stirred me to look for alternative materials which would behave similarly but would have a better control over it.

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STAGE II

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RESIN| ELASTANE

Materials used:

Cast: Quick setting resin by Barnes (Rigid polyurethane opaque white resin) |Work time: 2:50 mins | Demould: 1020 mins| Rigidity: Shore D65 Mould: Elastane sheet

This was to test how resin would interact with Lycra. The Lycra sheet was stretch using clamps at the edges and resin was poured on top of the surface. Lycra being porous had the liquid resin leaking through its porosity.

The remainder of the resin that set cracked on lines of where the resin leaked the most. This caused the resin to fragment when the Lycra was taken off the clamps. Thus, Lycra being a stretchable and porous material was not producing the smooth surface finish of the casted resin I was looking for.

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COLLABORATIVE PRODUCTION VASE THOMAS VAILLY| 2011

Moving into different material I had to look for new precedents to emulate. This vase by Thomas Vailly was a good starting as in I was interested in using resin and casting method into a free-flowing vessel. This vase show cases how organic resin can set to become if the process of creation the mould/ vessel is carefully and intelligently curated.

47 http://vailly.com/projects/collaborative-context/ http://vailly.com/projects/collaborative-context/

RESIN| CERAMIC

Materials used: Cast: Quick setting resin by Bqueen (Rigid polyurethane opaque white resin) |Work time: 2:30 mins | Demould: 20-30 mins| Rigidity: Shore D72 Mould: Ceramic Bowl A quick test to how resin would set on a curve based surface rather than a flat surface. Small potion of liquid resin was poured into a bowl and was swirled until the resin was set. The surface in contact with the bowl produced a smooth finish but the other side of the surface was uneven as it was it formed as when the liquid resin was beginning to set when being swirled. This would be an issue as inconsistent swirling done by hands would always produce an uneven surface.

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LINE 2 THOMAS VAILLY| 2012 Given that resin goes from liquid to becoming a solid. There is a certain time before resin solidifies and this allows the material to be put under different techniques of letting it set. Instead of letting the resin sit static , it can allowed to be put under some sort of combination of swirling, rotational or centrifugal forces pushing the liquid to become almost the surface of the vessel.

Here Thomas Vailly uses a rotational casting machine which rotates in 2 axis to spread the liquid resin evenly across the inflated vessel, allowing the resin to take shape of it’s vessel.

49 http://vailly.com/projects/line02--pictures/

RESIN| LATEX I

Materials used: Cast: Quick setting resin by Barnes (Rigid polyurethane opaque white resin) |Work time: 2:50 mins | Demould: 10-20 mins| Rigidity: Shore D65 Mould: Latex Balloons Another experiment to test how resin would set in a curve based shapes. Small portion of liquid resin (40 ml) was poured inside a balloon which was quickly inflated and tied. The inflated balloon was then swirled for the resin to cover all the internal surface area of the balloon until it set. Demoulding the latex balloon proved difficult. Not only was the thickness of resin really thin but this particular latex really stuck to the resin. This caused the set resin to deflate when trying to remove it from the hole where the air was blown.

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RESIN| LATEX II

Materials used: Cast: Quick setting resin by Barnes (Rigid polyurethane opaque white resin) |Work time: 2:50 mins | Demould: 10-20 mins| Rigidity: Shore D65 Mould: Latex Balloons This was the second go at the balloon inflation and resin casting. For this a larger portion of liquid resin was poured (about 80 ml). This would thicken the resin when it set and would cover more internal surface area of the balloon more evenly. After the resin was allowed to set, demoulding caused another problem. The latex of the balloon and it’s paint component must have reacted with resin which caused them to bond together disallowing peeling the latex off the resin. The resin cast seemed much stronger and the external surface it produce was the smooth surface I was looking for. However, I was to look further for a better way of casting and moulding technique to create the same smooth surface.

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RESIN| LATEX| BALSA

Materials used:

Cast: Quick setting resin by Barnes (Rigid polyurethane opaque white resin) |Work time: 2:50 mins | Demould: 1020 mins| Rigidity: Shore D65 Mould: Latex balloon Additional: Basla wood

This test was done to see how resin interacted with another material introduced to it. Modeling balsa wood was just as to test the connection between the two materials and this resulted in quite a strong connection between the two. This was a stepping stone for me to direct my interest for fabricating my furniture. Although a lot of other testing like the point of connection between the two materials and how the 1:1 scale model had to be done to be sure of the direction.

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STAGE III

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TABLE PRODUCTION UNIT THOMAS VAILLY| 2013

I was fascinated by the system of fabricating tables developed and created

by Thomas Vailly. At this point I was interested in mass producing multiple pieces of furniture using the technique developed by Thomas but I guess mass production diminishes the integrity of design vs one that is conceived through thorough investigation and experimentation.

However, I was still keen on using the similar technique of fabrication. Using latex as the vessel, resin poured and connected to the wood caving through the sheet of latex. And there is also the beauty, easy on the eyes, of the angular legs of the table sitting on the ground.

57 http://vailly.com/projects/low-table-production-unit/

TYPE I

With this prototype I built a jig which would serve as a holder for the latex sheet. From which I would be able to pull and push the sheet in Z-Axis. The point of pull (-ve) would be the point where the wooden element would pass through, as it would the main force holding the sheet in that particular direction. The points of pull could be anywhere from 1 to multiple depending on the size of the jig and could provide few variation at which the wooden element passed through the sheet. The initial idea of this system was to be able to mass produce variation of pieces using a similar formal language.

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The dowels at the edge of the frame hooks the stretched latex sheets. Holes are cut into the latex where the wooden element is passed through and held by sticky tape.

The vertical wooden elements when pulled down from the latex sheet are nailed down to a semi-grid system at the bottom of the jig. This ensures the latex stay that form when resin is poured.

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The first pour of resin (80ml) is poured down at the deepest points of the stretching points of the latex. This allows the maximum volume of resin to interact with the wooden element thus allowing a strong connection between the two materials.

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The following pours are to carefully poured to ensure the resin covers all of the internal surface area of the latex sheet. They are poured layer by layer untill desired thickness is achieved.

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Each layer is poured only once the previous pour of resin has set.

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The attached screws at the bottom of the jigs are undone. The sticky tape connecting the latex to the wooden element is removed. Finally the latex sheet is peeled off.

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Type I was quite successful in terms of what I was trying to achieve.

Trying to get the process of fabricating right was the biggest goal achieved. Again, it was not perfect and had much to be resolved.

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TYPE II

With Type II, I tried to resolve one of the issues I had with Type I which was controlling the thickness of the resin surface when it set.

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Instead of using a single sheet of latex, I decided to use two. One at the bottom and the other top. The two were divided by a 10mm wooden frame in between. The 10mm gap would be taken as the mark at each wooden element where the latex sheet would be held together at the points of pulls. The hole for the wooden sticks to pass were marked so they supper-imposed when laid on top of each other. This would give a consistent gap between the two sheets when pulled.

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Both latex are tightly anchored on the edge of the frame, the bottom sheet gets anchored first then the top which helps secure the 10mm frame that divides them. A small hole is pierced and the resin is poured through it.

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This pour is completed in one take taking roughly about 1000ml of resin. The pouring was relatively easy but he set-up took considerable amount of time,calculation and precision.

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Demoulding was similar to that of type I, undoing the screws from the bottom, removing the tape and than peeling of the latex.

However, I came across an issue where the frame of dividing the two latex sheets stuck to resin.

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Since the resin after it set came of fairly consistent in surface thickness, the points at which they were connecting with the wooden element was 10mm in thickness too. Therefore, another pour (80ml) of resin was poured into the deepest point just to reinforce the structural connection between the two materials.

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TYPE III

With this prototype I was trying to trying to see how much the latex could stretch if the latex was cut at a larger surface area than the boundary of the wooden frame. This would allow me the prototype to have a bigger arch when the legs would be pulled out.

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I did achieve what I was aiming for. A big triumphal arch.

Although It was structurally not stable because the legs were long and towards the bottom half which was not connected would allow the legs to bend.

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TYPE IV

This was an experiment in order to achieve a boundary of the end product similar to that of the laser cut profile of the mdf sheet. I was trying to see how much I could control the overall shape of the end product.

The cut profile of mdf attached to the frame.

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The latex sheet with marked points where the legs would go through.

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The latex sheet fixed to the frame after the legs were installed to it.

The experiment ready to be poured.

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The experiment was less successful than I had expected. To a degree I achieved the profile of the laser cut mdf sheet, but without the consideration of the latex sheet cut to the profile of the mdf sheet, the latex would never spread evenly on the cut profile. Thus, the rectangular latex sheet was stretching more at points and edges where it needed to have less and vice versa.

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TYPE V

Following up from type IV’s failure to have structural integrity, type V was proceeded to find if not a solution a better structural system.

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The interconnection of timber laths at each end provided the structural integrity it was lacking bu there was still issues to be resolved.

All the ends of the laths had to be connected in oeder for the piece to be stable, leaving the ends hanging and without being connected left the piece to be rather unstable.

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INITIAL DESIGN ITERATIONS SMALL SCALE

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PLASTICINE SKETCHES I

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These iterations I tried with plasticine were no the most successful ones. I was thinking towards a very specific goal blindsided to the possibility of the system I had created so far. Rather than having explore the system of joints and connections I was caught by the idea of having a conventional final piece.

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HAND SKETCHES

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These hand sketches illustrates the progression of the desin I was trying to achieve. I was still caught up with conventional furniture pieces but I was slowly swaing away from trying it not to be one. Not ht emost succesful sketches but a very big stepping point in terms of design thinking, trying out new possibilites and being open to new ideas.

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VIRTUAL SKETCHES

Another set of unsuccessful iterations. I was too caught up with the idea of my furniture being a table and was not very keen on trying out different ideas. The only differences between these iterations are the configurations of the legs and connections between them.

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PLASTICINE SKETCHES II

Finally moving away from the rut I had been stuck on, I decided to embrace the system of interlocking joints . With these I was able to explore the several possibilities on how individual pieces would be connected to each other varying on number of joints and laths.

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PLASTICINE SKETCH III

The final iteration which I thought was quite successful. In terms of connectivity ,composition and structural stability, at least in the scale model. I was going to move ahead with this iteration to make it into full scale to test all the possible failure it might have.

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FINAL

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STAGE I

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DRAFT

Trying to replicate the final sketch model into a full scale size. This was constructed in order to test structural integrity of the configuration of the dowels and the joints. The resin connection was replaced with screw and long piece of wooden plank in order to quickly test I was aiming for.

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Although quite successful in achieving the scale of the piece I wanted to. Structurally it was quite shaky and unstable. The weak points causing the instability laid in the interconnection between the dowels, each of the dowels of the need to be connected in a triangulated manner in order to achieve full stability. Thus, lesson learnt from this was to and try triangulate the connections between the dowels without it being too obvious in the process.

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The Jig

The unsung hero of my project was the jig. I have used this organically growing jig from start to finish. Screwing structural wooden planks where and when I needed to or removing them when and where I wanted to. Or even adding addition limbs extending from the main jig. The versatility of the jig enabled me to move ahead with all my resin casting. Truly an unsung hero, a round of applause for the jig.

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STAGE II

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FINAL PROTOTYPE

From lessons learnt from the draft model to tackle the structural stability and connections between the dowels, this prototype was created.

The was no clear goal of achieving a form rather this prototype was to rectify the failure of the draft model. Thus, the process of configuration and assembling them was really organic. Forming triad connections when needed to, keeping in mind not to use too many connections. The one rule I had to follow was to cast the joints from top to bottom, this allowed more room for the later casting to be done .The final outcome was most sculptural which I really enjoyed, trying to achieve through rather unconventional method.

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I was aiming for a structurally stable piece without having a preconceived form to be achieved. This led to a really great looking piece. The structure turned out to be quite stable as well, the more weight that it was put under the higher the stability of the piece got. I am pretty sure that it was because of the out spreading legs of the furniture which were always trying to push up but the additional weight going downwards countered the forces trying to move up and in breaking the threshold of the forces going up, the furniture became more stable.

Although I could have used this for my final furniture pieces, I was not satisfied with the finishing of the resin and they were roughly poured to test the structural stability.

I could have also done with more structural connections to make the piece even more stable .

And thus, I decided to move on to making the final piece.

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FINALE

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I was rather happy with the final piece although some issues were still unresolved, given more time, I could have resolved those issues.

The latex sheet was outstretched too much and could not handle the load of the liquid resin (about 3 kgs). Thus, deciding to give away and getting torn.

Due to material failure during the pouring of the final centerpiece, I was setback both in time and in availability of materials. Given that it had not failed, I would have definitely make the final piece more stable and the center piece would have achieved a better aesthetic finish.

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OUTRO

Just like two fools happily dancing without any prior skills or worry in the world, this final piece encapsulates the not only the physical form of the fools but the “freestyle” method of conceiving the piece. It is suppose to be clumsy, light on it’s feet and most of all to be happy in an ever growing solemn world.

I would like to thank the staff members of the timber workshop for helping me get to the final, or almost, piece. And more importantly to Adam and Randal for being ever-present and guiding me to finish the project.

Thank you and goodbye.

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