Will's Flywheel

At it again - Will is making bits for his trains.

This time we went for a 'case study' appraoch and flexed our brain muscles for a bit of a challenge.



After seeing things like this on the web and print brouchures we thought we would give it ago outselves.

Solidworks still being new to us, I went in and drew up a fly wheel which overall was pretty simple - I did draw it three times before we were satisfied however!



Using the mould tools integrated into solidworks - and several hours of trying to figure things out we got our two peice mould, made a quick STL and off we went to the printer.





So when all the prints were out - cleaned off with the air but we were impatant and took it out before they had finnished being baked in the machine - so we transfered them into the oven upstairs for a blast for around 30 mins.



Being a bit of a noob the pour hole was a little small - so I countersunked it to enlarge - and maskeing taped the two halves together. We then embeded it into the sand pit ready for a pour.







And the pour..



After a short period to let the pewter cool - we got the part out the sand and peeled off the tape.

We were suprised of the weight - assuming things must have gone what right for us!



Hitting it with a hammer - the only solution for a stuborn mould!



After a demoulding by hammers - scrapers and a quick sandblast we have the part!!



And the money shot:

Solidworks more like solid wtf how do you get this to work?!

So yeah new year new software installed - we have an academic licence of Solidworks and CAMWorks - here's to hoping you already know how to use them!

Solidworks is pretty hot - I have been playing with it for a month or two now and getting the hang of it more, the more I use it. I actually really like it - it feels more intuitive than Rhino - in fact I barely open rhino any more other than drafting for the laser.

CAMWorks on the other hand though is something else - even getting the thing to load and find the licence is something like voodoo.

It should be a great product that seamlessly links 3D solid modeling with CAM and our Mill - so far its just making nice 3D digital models with no cam any time soon.

What this post was meant to be about....

I did manage to get a few models 3D printed here is my favorite!



Yes, it is a pink cathedral

Bartlet Architecture Final Show UCL

Walking from Waterloo to UCL took just over an hour - but we got to see alot of London's back streets that would have been missed if we took the tube. The day was hot despite staring out with rain, and not taking the most direct rout at times just made things worse. Anyway - by 2:30 we had made it, and the courtyard of UCL was a little sancuary in the middle of hell that was london, quiet and calm, we were met with this.


In the right place then.

The show was pretty large accutally, spanning several rooms with a range of work in each. Models were everywhere which was a plus for me - and they were getting alot of attention from everyone else in the gallery.





To go with the countless models were collections of artwork which as an outsider I coulnt see the relevence to an Architecture degree show but they were stunning none the less - very sci fi.







The models on show had a range of technologies applied to them - predominently Dprinted with elements of lasercut acrylic. I spoke toone of the students on hand and asked about the software used to create such generative forms. They all get introductions into Rhino, Solidworks, Studio MAX - even google sketchup is used extensivly. He also explained that they build several models digitally - some for specification and also some specifically for the use of prototyping technologies. All models are brought and payed for at a little above cost.












Overall the day was great and well worth the treck accross London town to get there! The level of work - and the quality and extensiveness of the 3D prints was a great thing to witness!! Some of the aplications were questionable, such as a printed landform, but over all the applications were very generative and testament to their skills on CAD. Some of the details were very fine and bridging[from my persective] the gap between technology and art.