UCL Design for Manufacture Skills Portfolio by Sotiris Monachogios

Fusion 360 Designing of machining a small metal plate, facing off redundant material, creating pockets and drilling holes for bolts. Exporting a drawing of the machined piece, running the manufacturing simulation and exporting the code to be fed into the 3-axis CNC milling machine.

A: first sketch of component design in MODEL workspace. Making of base rectangle, filleting of the corners and positioning circles for drilling toolpath.

B: facing operation and simulation of milling on the CNC machine in CAM workspace. The tool faces off and removes any redundant material to have the desired thickness.

C: pocketing operation, still using the same tool with the previous milling processes.

D: creation of holes for bolts at the filleted corners of the component. The tool used is different from the other milling operations and is appropriate for drilling.

A C

SKILLS S o t i r i s B

PORTFOLIO M o n Da c h o g i o s

UCL MArch Design for Manufacture 2018 - 19 25

Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T able of conte nts

R hin o / Gr assho ppe r Software interfaces First Case

3 6

Second Case

11

Third Case

17

Fusion 360

23

A rduin o

23

T imb er Basic Tools

36

First Case

37

Second Case Third Case

39 44

Other Ma king S k i l l s 3D Printing

52

Laser Cutting

54

Ou t look

58

Rhino / Grasshopper Softare Interfaces

R hin o Rhinoceros (or Rhino) is a 3D computer graphics and CAD application software. Rhino can create, edit, analyze, document, render, animate and translate nurbs curves, surfaces, and solids, point clouds, and polygon meshes. Plugins such as Grasshopper can run in the software.

window title menu command history window command prompt launch grasshopper

viewport name

viewport designed geometry

active viewport

toolbar

objects’ layers and other useful tabs

status bar Overview of Rhino 6 interface: different viewports of the same geometry

4 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r Grasshopper is a graphical algorithm editor that is included in Rhino 6 where several plugins such as Kangaroo and Karamba can run in it. Among several iterations, the user can choose which matches at a greater extend their criteria (according to efficiency in design, structure etc.)

canvas typical component window title menu component panels

Provisional model simulation of Grasshopper components in Rhino

5 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Grasshopper interface: tabs and components / parameters on canvas

First

Case

Parametric Design of a Pavilion with Three Walls, a Canopy and a Roof Skin

G rassh op p e r - fi r st c ase Modelling process: a pavillion comprising of three parametric walls designed with different techniques, a parametric canopy with structural analysis and an ornamental skin on the roof. Grasshopper Plugins used: Kangaroo, Karamba, Weaverbird

A: creation of square base canvas

A: Start of script: creation of square base canvas

B: Creation and division of unlevel ground

B: creation and division of unlevel ground

C: Lines and rectangular grid for canopy D: Structural analysis on canopy frame using Karamba E: Skin on wall No 1 using Kangaroo physics and Weaverbird

Grasshopper code: division into more discrete sections helps understanding and revising the code, being essential when more people are working on the same file 7 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

C: lines and rectangular grid for canopy

G rassh op p e r - fi r st c ase Edge Length Goal: a Goal calculates where it wants to move a set of elements. Edge Length Goal takes the length and strength of edges to move Anchor Points: they are used to keep points fixed in a certain location. No matter what forces are applied to them the anchor points will not be moved

Kangaroo Bouncy Solver: Combines all inputs [anchor points, goals and physics] creating an active (bouncy) geometry WeaverbirdThicken: Gives thickness to Kangaroo output geometry

D: skin on wall No 1 using Kangaroo physics and Weaverbird

turning lines in model into beam elements for finite element analysis

setting a gravity loadcase for the self-weight of the steel beam elements

material properties

support points

defining a live load loadcase for point loads applied at nodes of the beam elements E: structural analysis on canopy frame using Karamba. Having lines as inputs (representing beams and columns) the analysis outputs come as values or visualising diagrams, helping the user change the structure if needed 8 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r - fi r st c ase Karamba analysis: single column, whole canopy system and colour coding of the graphical display for stress values

Structural analysis is of vital importance since it can inform the designer about the determination of the loads’ effects on physical structures. Weight loads, stress, torsion, side (wind) forces can all be calculated and the output values can cue the design accordingly.

Karamba lets the designer analyse the response of beam and shell structures under loads. The diagrams shown depict the stress values along the structure. The stress values have been colour coded and are graphically displayed on the structure geometry. Red signifies greater stress and blue indicates the extreme opposite value.

The designed canopy comprises of a 5x5 column grid, all connected at their edges.

Since the structural analysis of the single column did not have this system included in the calculations, its values (hence the colours) slightly differ from those of the whole canopy system.

single column analysis: perspective side view

9 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

canopy analysis: perspective top view

G rassh op p e r - fi r st c ase exploded axonometric of pavilion elements

ornamental roof skin

wall No 1: side view and detail. Truss of differentiating length elements according to attractor point, skin made with Kangaroo plugin

canopy structure

parametric wall No 1 wall No 2: side view and detail. Initial surface division into segments.

Rectangular shaped holes, size defined by attractor point unlevel ground

parametric wall No 2

parametric wall No 3 wall No 3: side view and detail. Populating a geometry over paths.

Rectangular bricks with circular holes, size defined by attractor point

10 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Second

Case

Robotically Milled Joints

G rassh op p e r - se c ond c as e Modelling process: Design and simulation of milling a four joints timber frame consisting of two different sets of joints. Each timber element’s ends are a male (m) and a female (f) joint of the two different types. Main grasshopper plugin used: Robots

robot

current tab name: Robots

inputs, outputs and commands components for creating and processing toolpaths containers for parameters utility compoments

end effector (tool)

milled geometry moved to robot coordinates

A: creation of generic box and geometry to be milled B: translation of toolpath polyline to planes for the robotic simulation

robot’s coordinates system origin point rotary table C: interweaving (entwining) all sets of planes original position of designed geometry

D: moving all planes from grasshopper origin point to the rotary table, toolpath sets sequence E: robot milling simulation

Drawing made from Robots plugin simulation: milling robot, rotary table, end effector and piece to be milled 12 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Robots plugin interface and case analysis

G rassh op p e r - se c ond c as e

definition of dimensions (need to be verified from the physical object and update the simulation at all iterations)

A: creation of generic box and geometry to be milled

creation of planes later to be used as the base for the robotic toolpath creation

B: translation of toolpath polyline to planes for the robotic simulation

entwining all sets of planes to be moved from grasshopper origin point to the rotary table

C: interweaving (entwining) all sets of planes

13 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r - se c ond c as e moving (orienting) all planes from grasshopper origin to the rotary table. The planes are inputs to targets, components that the end effector can pass through and create the desired geometry

the first target of each operation needs to be set as a Joint motion, the others as a linear motion

D: moving all planes from grasshopper origin point to the rotary table, toolpath sets sequence

save the program to a path in the computer, later to be copied to the physical robot controller and executed by the robot

robot simulation of the milling process, visualised in grasshopper

E: robot milling simulation and code export

14 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r - se c ond c as e

Simulation of first material removal for male joint

Milled geometries: isometric view

15 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Simulation of facing off one side of a beam in order to get the desired final length, regardless of the raw material length

G rassh op p e r - se c ond c as e

Physical model and making process in “Timber� section

16 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Third

Case

Topologically Optimised Plank

G rassh op p e r - thi r d c ase Modelling process: Structural analysis of a 1600x300x80mm plank for topological optimization according to stress flowlines, resulting to a thickness optimized plank. Grasshopper Plugins used: Karamba, Robots

simplistic analysis of plank: bending moment, shear force and thikness optimisation diagrams are essential foundations that shape the principles behind the Karamba analysis.

Îżriginal plank profile

bending moment diagram

structural analysis for topological optimisation

shear force diagram

four support points for the plank

turning mesh in model into shell for finite element analysis

setting a gravity loadcase for the self-weight of the plank material properties

defining a live loadcase distributed equally on the surface colour coding the graphical display for stress values Karamba structural analysis of plank

18 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

thickness optimised plank profile

G rassh op p e r - thi r d c ase tuning the model display

colour coding the graphical display for stress values

utilisation range showing the least stressed and most stressed values as a range

output of plank stress values

visual representation: color analysis according to stress lines

19 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r - thi r d c ase Distributing the stress curves in the Z axis according to their stress values and preparing the toolpath for the milling end effector mounted at the end of the robotic arm

main passes: splitting toolpath lines to odd and even, reversing one of the set’s direction to increase time efficiency with milling.

When the end effector is finished with each individual line it jumps to the adjacent line’s closest end point, reducing travelling time

creation of planes, orienting them to a coordinates system that the robotic arm can reach, defining targets and the motion type, running the robotic simulation 20 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

G rassh op p e r - thi r d c ase

Milling toolpath diagram (passes reduced for diagrammatic purposes)

Simulation of robot milling the plank

21 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Physical model and making process in “Timber� section

G rassh op p e r - ge ne r al fe e d b a c k / c o m m en t s / a p p l i c a t i o n s Keeping a simple data structure from the beginning of Grasshopper codes cannot only benefit later revisions but can save computational time and produce faster results.

Parametric design of elements gives the advantage of having the script ready to be applied to different situations under the same parameters that can adapt to the inputs.

Kangaroo physics can mimic natural forces and can help designing of complex geometrical shapes. Nevertheless it cannot be used as a scientific component since it only serves representations of the above mentioned forces and behaviors.

Karamba is a robust tool that can inform design according to feasibility of construction, taking into consideration the structure’s shape, loads applied to it and other forces that define it’s structural behavior. Combining Karamba outputs with a parametric design based on the aforementioned analysis can create design and inform making that is based on structural efficiency.

22 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Fusion

360

Fusion 360 Autodesk Fusion 360 is a software to prepare components for manufacturing, create toolpaths to machine them or use the 3D printing workflow to create a prototype. Adding to this, Fusion 360 also allows to perform simulations and make animations, unifying design, engineering, and manufacturing into a single platform.

Application bar: shows the main menu options such as the File menu and the Save button. toolbar user profile and help view cube: allows rotate and reorient the view of the workspace

Browser: lists the objects in the design and allows to edit their properties other projects saved on Autodesk cloud workspace

Navigation bar and display settings

Canvas/marking menu

Overview of Fusion 360 interface

24 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Fusion 360 Designing of machining a small metal plate, facing off redundant material, creating pockets and drilling holes for bolts. Exporting a drawing of the machined piece, running the manufacturing simulation and exporting the code to be fed into the 3-axis CNC milling machine.

A: first sketch of component design in MODEL workspace. Making of base rectangle, filleting of the corners and positioning circles for drilling toolpath.

B: facing operation and simulation of milling on the CNC machine in CAM workspace. The tool faces off and removes any redundant material to have the desired thickness.

C: pocketing operation, still using the same tool with the previous milling processes.

D: creation of holes for bolts at the filleted corners of the component. The tool used is different from the other milling operations and is appropriate for drilling.

A C

B

25 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

D

Fusion 360 Post Process A: post process window accessed from CAM panel in Fusion 360, allowing to select coding format according to the standards of the milling machine to be used later B: post process code to be fed into the CNC milling machine. A removable disk drive is needed to physically transfer the code from the computer to the machine. Program used to open the code: Brackets

A

26 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

B

Fusion 360 Technical drawing of designed component The drawing can be created in Fusion 360 and the user can plot a PDF file including any desired views, sections, or elevations, adding dimensions and other drawing details, creating a technical drawing ready for the maker.

27 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

south-west isometric view

top view

south-east isometric view

front elevation

side elevation

back elevation

north-east isometric view

bottom view

north-east isometric view

Fusion 360 - ge ne r al fe e d b a c k / c o m m e n t s / a p p l i c a t i o ns Keeping a well organised set of steps while making a geometry is of vital importance, since the programs allows for taking looks and revising earlier designing phases.

The adaptability of the later phases according to any changes made adds a range of designing possibilities to the program.

Fusion 360 can be exploited for making bespoke artefacts, although designing complex geometries does not seem to be one of its greatests strengths. One of the software’s strong points is the interconnectivity that it allows between designing a component and running a manufacturing simulation, being able to make design changes and inform the making phase accordingly.

28 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Arduino vehicle cutting along a line when following adjacent line

A rduin o Arduino is an open-source electronics platform for physical computing. Its boards are able to read inputs and turn it into an output. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board, using the Arduino programming language and the Arduino software.

window title menu

L293D Motor Driver

verify. Checks the code for errors compiling it. upload. Compiles the code and uploads it to the board. codes tab. Here are all the tabs that are open in the program

Stepper Motor 4 x AA Battery Powering Pack

declaring variables. Those variables will be called later on in the code and need to have a name and a type. void setup. This part of the code is the first to run and runs only once.

Line tracking color sensor Arduino UNO board

void loop. This part of the code keeps looping from start to finish.

Cables

serial monitor. Opens the serial monitor window and initiates the exchange of data with the connected board.

message area. It gives feedback while saving and exporting and also displays errors.

Arduino software interface

30 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Cables with tags on bredboard

physical arduino components

A rduin o The arduino code. A color sensor reads black and not black, accelerating and decelerating the stepper motor accordingly.

Already having an arduino made vehicle that reads a line and follows it (colleague’s part on assignment), a color sensor would read an adjacent and offseted line full of information on how to manipulate the main path line [sense black and non-black]. Black reading would make the motor start spinning faster [according to the length of the black segment], and non-black would cause the motor to pause. The transition points from non-black to black is programmed to be done gradually.

A

A mapping of speed values immitates the delay command (which should be generally be avoided because of the lag that it provokes to the code regarding its continuity).

Everything was built on a breadboard and then rebuilt on a stripboard. Batteries were used and soldering between connections and cables made the physical model more durable.

B

Everything was fixed on the vehicle chassis and underwent a test run.

C

A: description of the code by the author. Anything that follows a double slash “ // ” is being ignored by the code compiler. Comments can be notes or explain the code that follows.

B: declaration of variables.

C: void setup. Runs once.

D: void loop. Everything in this section runs in a loop

31 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

D

A rduin o Transfering everything to a stripboard In order to achieve a more stable state of connections between the physical Arduino compartments, it was necessary to transfer everything from the breadboard to a stripboard.

color sensor connected to cables

A stripboard is a metal plate where the cables and motor driver were connected rigidly to with the technique of soldering.

Solder is a metal wire with a relatively low melting point that is melted with a soldering iron. It is traditionally a mix of tin and lead.

Labeling the cables when moving to stripboard seemed a handy solution to defy confusion between the before and after phases.

transfering from breadboard to stripboard to increase stiffness in connections between elements

Glue was added on top of the final soldered areas to stiffen the connections.

labelling cables helped moving from bredboard to stripboard

soldering cables on stripboard

32 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

A rduin o Test boards for color sensors

continuous line that the vehicle follows

Arduino board offseted line segments that the color sensor reads and commands the cutting wheel to rotate

stripboard

color sensor sensing black (emits red light) fragmented line that the sensor reads

continuous line that the vehicle follows

A4 sheets printed and collaged together to create path

The shapes have the same thickness and the escorting line is at a fixed distance from the dashed line that the color sensor reads, getting more accurate readings.

33 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Failed attempt of creating curves for the color sensor to read: they were of irregular shapes and the base of the paint was not complete white, causing errors to the sensor’s inputs.

As a consequence, the motor did not spin properly.

A rduin o - f e e dbac k / c o mm en t s / a p p l i c a t i o n The aforementioned procedure could be a simple method of saving encrypted data along a path providing the essential information to a vehicle on how to manipulate a line [an object]. This may be similar to having a user’s manual next to an object that the vehicle can translate accordingly based on the scripting done by the user. Wider range of encrypted data [more colors, specific positioning of line segments etc] could potentially create a wider range of manipulation [deeper cuts, faster carves].

34 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Timber engineered timber made and tested in the B-made workshop

T imb er - b a si c to o l s In order to excel in the design project, it is essential to get involved into making timber. Experimentations in making engineered timber include preparing raw materials, making and gluing wood lamellas, using hand tools and robotic arms for milling, focusing on enhancing structural volume of the workpieces.

wood hammer

chisel wood screws drill

KUKA robot

measuring tape end effector clamp

carpenter’s pencil workpiece hammer

robot’s coordinates system origin point

PVA glue rotary table

handsaw

basic hand tools and materials directly used and applied by hand

36 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

KUKA KR-60 milling robot and rotary table in the robot cluster

First

Case

Robotically Milled Joints

T imb er - fir st c ase In order to excel in the design project, it is essential to get involved into making timber. Experimentations in making engineered timber include preparing raw materials, making and gluing wood lamellas, using hand tools and robotic arms for milling, focusing on enhancing structural volume of the workpieces.

Milling a four joints timber frame consisting of two different sets of joints. Each timber element’s ends are a male (m) and a female (f) joint of the two different types.

Zoning was a medium to achieve precise and smooth cuts when entering into the beam and trying to get round edges. Springpass was used to achieve more precise cuts and it proved to be essential. Lower speed was used manually during milling with more aggresive cuts and resonance issues.

following up on the robotically milled joints from “Grasshopper - second case� section

complete set of four timber pieces 2x4 inches cross section

tenon and mortise joint with mitered face detail: male and female

robotic milling of male double pocket joint

double pocket joint detail: male and female

KUKA KR-60 robot

end effector (milling bit at end of robotic arm) 2x4 inches timber workpiece rotary table pendant controlled by user

38 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Second

Case

Topologically optimised and milled bench

T imb er - se c o nd c ase Robotic milling of a 300x80x1600mm panel comprising of three layers laminated together: three long pieces as top and bottom layer and a central core of multiple inner shorter sections going in the other direction.

It was essential to make a CLT panel so that it could be later on milled with the robot. The plank was treated as a homogenous and isotropic material, with the manufactured piece and the observations made proving this statement as wrong.

A CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) panel is a wood panel comprising of an odd number of lamellas glued together.

In a typical CLT panel each layer of boards is oriented perpendicular to adjacent layers.

Timber elements were prepared to get orthogonal shapes getting assistance from trained workshop personnel.

sawing timber beams to required section size

following up on the topologically optomised plank from “Grasshopper - third case� section 40 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

processing timber sections in the planer thicknesser

planing sections for gluing

lamination of pieces under time pressure

clamped CLT panel: improvisation because of the lack of hydraulic press

T imb er - se c o nd c ase The final CLT plank required some further processing to give a finished item even after all the processing done to the timber sections.

Under the hurry of gluing, correct orientation of the inner layer’s crowns was ignored, ultimately affecting the stability of the finished plank.

Glue was leaking through the panel slats and sandpapering pads had to be used.

The edges had to be cleaned from the redundant material, getting to the geometry that was digitally analysed in Karamba and was later on physically milled with the KUKA robot. untreated CLT panel

glue leaks through panel slats

crown orientation of core layer: crowns should be of alternating orientations

panel elevation and plan view from top

41 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T imb er - se c o nd c ase

A: milling the CLT plank with the robot using a 16mm diameter ballnose bit after finishing tool calibration to get the correct coordinate system from digital to the physical environment

C: one of the final milling passes

B: the second layer of timber slats has been exposed at the edges of the plank

D: getting a more detailed, final pass of a denser toolpath for a fine finish

42 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T imb er - se c o nd c ase

final physical piece

bottom view of optimised plank: only a central part of the third layer has remained after the thickness optimisation 43 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

side view of the milled surface: the plank sides and center are the areas that need most of material to withstand loads

Third

Case

Peg lamination of curved CLT panels

T imb er - t h i r d c ase Laminating two CLT panels while dry-bending them on a jig, scanning one of them and then after running a robotic simulation. After translating geometries from the physical to the digital, a KUKA robot is used to mill holes to receive pegs and laminate the two CLT panels with them in order to increase the structural volume.

jig assembly: a wooden frame having three slats for the lamellas layers to bend on

timber slat screwed on top of the first layer keeping the lamellas edges down

three layers of CLT panels drying at the desired shape, being assisted by clamps and metal tubes to keep everything in place

bending timber slats with hands before securing them in place

45 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

bending of CLT panel under the pressure of clamps

T imb er - t h i r d c ase

first curved CLT panel

second curved CLT panel on top of the first: the difference in the geometries can be understood when paying attention to the small gap between the two panels 46 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T imb er - t h i r d c ase Scanning the CLT panels using Creaform Handyscan and VXelements, in order to import the physical geometry to the digital world and later on mill it with the robot. toolbar

scan: creates a new scan merge scans: merge different scans to one positioning targets captured from the physical object

scanned geometry Creaform Handyscan parameters

scan parameters: resolution and other adjustable settings

VXelements interface and scanned CLT panel

interactive scanned model in VXelements, receiving information from the Creaform Handyscan

scanned geometry: CLT panel

Creaform Handyscan connected to VXelements

positioning targets applied on the geometry before scanning: a minimum of three positioning targets need to be in the scanning range at every moment

scanning the CLT panel

47 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

scanner side view

receiving information while getting references from positioning targets

T imb er - t h i r d c ase

illustration of peg lamination and bending orientation

milling both CLT panels at once, having them fixed on a frame and then on a table, using clamps to reduce resonance and improve stability while milling

smaller scale model made with thin plywood sheets and dowels

creating the desired gap beteween the two CLT panels and laminating with pegs

48 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T imb er - t h i r d c ase

final geometry: two curved CLT panels laminated with pegs, increasing the composite’s structural capacity 49 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

T imb er - fe e dbac k / c omm e n t s / a p p l i c a t i o n Reducing subtractive methods and implementing an additive logic when making timber might enhance the potential of respecting timber as a material and be more honest to the geometry and thus the means of making.

When using the robot, it is still important to measure the workpieces height and thickness of the premilled beams and adjust the grasshopper dimensions accordingly.

Inaccuracies in fixed dimensions could lead to undesired cuts and pieces not fitting together correctly. Climbing and conventional methods should be investigated thoroughly to improve cut. It would be also useful to have increments of passes to face off and get the beam to the exact dimensions regardless of its length when cut with the handsaw. Achieving a sharp pocket edge seems to be impossible to happen at least with the robotic tools, since no matter from how many directions you reach a point it will still have a remaining rounded part because of the tool being cylindrical.

Tolerance should always be considered for handcrafted pieces, when using the robot or with CNC machining if the pieces were to fit perfectly or have a more loose connection.

50 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Other

making

skills

Modelling and 3D printing, using the laser cutter with specific modes for welding TPU plastic sheets

Other ma king sk i l l s - 3 D p r i n t i n g f o r m a n u f a c t u r e The design ambition was to create a shoe that could run along an aluminium strut channel, holding a corner of plywood that would alow for some bend tests. Since the PLA filament material would not withstand such high forces, the test aimed mainly at defining the geometry and size of the object, as well as the ability of the component to slide along the aluminium strut.

Since 3D printers at their default state stack layers of fillament in order to print a geometry, support material is introduced at specific points to avoid material from collapsing while being printed. This impeled for an optimal object position on the printing table in order to reduce support material to a minimal amount.

The printed outcome could slide efficiently along the aluminium strut channel but was hollow and could not withstand any forces, so it remained a geometrical representation of a copy out of metal to be made.

print setup: default printer profile selected, with specific printing attributes provided by Bmade

geometry to be printed (imported to the 3D printer software) support material

estimated printing time and material usage according to current settings

CURA 3D printer software interface with geometry to be printed

aluminium strut profile

aluminium strut profile 55mm

lead screw

3D printed shoe

lead screw nut shoe

channel

plywood panel

initial idea: hand drawn sketch of 3D printed shoe and its implementation 52 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

digital model of shoe designed in Rhino

3D printed geometry

Other ma king sk i l l s - 3 D p r i n t i n g f o r m a n u f a c t u r e Laser cut plywood pieces get assembled with steel bars passing through them. The plywood holes are filled with 3D printed shoulder washers, being firmly placed against the wood.

Friction is reduced since the plywood arms do not touch directly the bar and there is the 3D printed shoulder washer instead. The shoulder washers keep the plywood elements apart so that there is less friction. A plain 3D printed washer is placed after the plywood and then a cotter pin locks everything in place.

The 3D printed elements were bespoke, solid components and thus could replace typical steel washers.

washer and shoulder washer next to the other components to be assembled together: isometric

assembling sequence of elements. The shoulder washer fills the plywood gap to reduce rotation friction, the washer protects the plywood from the cotter pin: exploded axonometric

washer

shoulder washer

3D printed elements: shoulder nut and washer

53 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

joint detail with 3D printed washer

all components assembled in place: digital representation

Other ma king sk i l l s - Lase r Cu t t i n g Laser cutting experimentations on Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) sheets: cutting TPU sheets with Trotec laser and engraving using the Relief process mode to manipulate laser power levels and weld a stack of two TPU sheets Relief mode processes laser power based on the gray value of the graphic for laser engraving, having different power levels in the same job.

Making sure that Trotec Engraver is selected, the next window opens when clicking on the Preferences option

Changing the process mode from Standard to Relief, where more options such as resolution are available

After clicking on Print, selecting Setup a popup window of the available printers opens

acessing the Relief mode after selecting the Print option in the Adobe Illustrator file to be engraved in three steps

54 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Other ma king sk i l l s - Lase r Cu t t i n g In an attempt to create cushions with a competent material and connections that would withstand air pressure, welding TPU with varying engraving power was tested.

An Adobe Illustrator file was exported and was used in the Trotec laser software using the Relief process mode. The test was made following the Relief mode rule: white (RGB 255,255,255): 0 per cent power level black (RGB 0,0,0): 100 per cent power level

55 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

gradient from white to black with a continuous stripe and in increments for better understanding of the chromatic values and their welding translations

Continuous and incremental gradient applied to TPU: white seems to be almost ignored as a power level while complete black burns the material

full speed border laser cuts

grayscale matrix provided from troteclaser.com

grayscale matrix applied to a TPU stack of two layers: values between 65 and 75 seem to be good enough so that they weld the two sides together and do not shatter the welded surface

full power border cuts and experiments with specific power values following the previous matrix test

Other ma king sk i l l s Other knowledge and skills acquired from special inductions with no current applications: MIG welding: the process that utilizes a fed solid electrode melt with shielding gas and electrical power, depositing the molten material in the weld joint.

TIG welding: the process that long welding rods are used, slowly fed into the weld puddle.

Lathe: tool for cutting, milling and generally shaping metals through approaching knives while the workpiece is held and rotated. was used or creating flutes on metal bars but was later abandoned since the tacit knowledge required reasonably much time to be gained compared to the time allowed for a project completion).

56 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Other ma king sk i l l s - fe e d b a c k / c o m m en t s / a p p l i c a t i o n Should a 3D printed component be used for manufacturing and not representation purposes, tests need to be done on the durability of the 3D printer’s fillament material.

The placement of the object on the 3D printing board can define the quality of the print. Changing the printer settings to get a solid and not a hollow printed object could increase the component’s applications in serving a supporting role for a system of loads.

Adjusting the laser’s power levels can give room for experimentation on welding materials. The precision of the laser cutter together with the manipulation of the power can boost manufacturing experimentations and test material affordances.

57 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio

Outlook Future steps and ambitions

Ou t look Exploit the facilities provided at Here East, be exposed and benefit from the crossover of different disciplines and trajectories that coexist under the same roof. Both skills in the realm of the physical and the digital can improve and inform both the designing and making processes if implemented alongside with the appropriate vision.

59 Sotiris Monachogios - Skills Portfolio