whatchamacallit project

for this project we were instructed to make something from scratch, I decided to make a little holder for my iphone, kinda like a dock. it has a slot in the bottom for the charger and it's shaped like the iphone. It's a simple idea, but I needed one so I made one for myself.

Furniture design project - Final Post

With this project, I had a lot of difficulty at first, I had about a week of time where I had no ideas about what to do. when looking around on the internet I came across one seat that was very interesting to me. It followed a similar design to what I have now. This is where I drew my inspiration from, after finding that image I immediately started sketching what I wanted to do. I made those sketches a while ago and have lost it between then and now. but after the sketching I came to modelling. It wasn't that difficult, I already had measurements for the seat and I knew what it would look like I just had to do it. I eventually came to this...

It doesn't look like much, but the Idea is that I would join each of the sheets together with glue to make 1 section, doing this multiple times would make more sections and I would have what looked like a bench. This is what one section would look like...

The idea was that for each section (the outside ones looking like this) I would have a spot to place a small sheet of fabric for a seat, It would have been strong fabric. strong enough to support a person of course. with this model I went to cutting a small version of the chair/bench. unfortunately I have no photos of it and the model was broken a while ago. shortly after making the model and modifying it slightly I went to full scale and cut it using the CNC machine. During the cutting process, something went wrong and messed up the cut on one of the pieces, I wanted to recut that piece again but I never had the chance and I never finished the chair. It wasn't that big of a deal for me, I would have liked to see how it would have turned out but I ran out of time and I can't. but after that first cut I went and modified my model more and came out with this...

After cutting full scale I saw that the gaps in the back were too close to the edge and may have broke under someones weight, so I made the space wider and I made the seat depth longer since it was a little short the first time around. In this, I learned a couple things. Like how to make the design process work for me rather than just following the steps and doing nothing new or creative, I also learned that it's impossible to get it perfect on the first try, no matter what, there will always be times when you can improve and modify your design to make it even better. I had used Sketchup when making my design, I don't feel like it has any real advantages or disadvantages compared to others, other than the fact that it can model in 2d and 3d, but is also universal as you can design anything with it. but it feels limited with the tools and the snapping to different angles. to me it's just a little unresponsive, but that may not be the case for others. I got used to it by getting used to the tools and just how the angle and length snapping works, I really only used the line tool for almost all of my work, if not the line tool then I used the rectangle tool.

This project didn't lead me to too many problems. the only thing that bugged me was having to wait for a while to cut it for the first time. Other than that I had no big problems, I had a couple small ones, llike getting the chair just right, and figuring out what materials I would make most of it out of, Etc.

I had a sense of accomplishment when making the scale model, It wasn't too amazing but it felt good to take my idea and make it a reality. it made me feel like I can make anything if I put time into it. 

Documenting My Furniture Progress

When designing my "chair" I had the idea of simplicity and functionality, but also wanted it to be unique. Then the idea of being able to change the chair with ease came up. most people are going with a rigid design, but I wanted a little more so I thought of making a bench, that if pulled apart, a more comfortable seat would be revealed. The prototype model looks like this.

The tow long pieces sticking through the back serve two purposes, to act as a guide and to prevent the seat from collapsing inward. the white piece between the sections, Is the more comfy seat, my Idea is to make it out of a tough fabric that will hold up a person, but will still fit with the whole design of the bench. 

My inspiration actually came from a little .GIF image that I saw showing a man taking what looked like a small chair, but he sets it down and pulls on the side turning it into a large bench. I unfortunately can't find the image to show but I found a similar image that matches what I saw. 

honeycomb-cardboard-498x377.jpg

During the whole process of modelling in sketch up, I didn't really have any issues, but my only concern what that I was making it a little too simple and bland and it wouldn't really work, when I did make it, I noticed that if I left it as it was, the sections would fall over when some one sat in it, so I added little slots for a 2X4 to fit in, so it would then keep it stable. aside from that, I had no other problems with it.

wikiseat final post

During my construction of my own wikiseat I had experienced many things and learned much more, both about the design process as well as just basic construction. But along with those successes I also had struggle and failure. I'll start with my struggles since those came before success when building. when I had first started holding nothing but the chunk of metal that was given and the thought of the instructions and the possibilities. for the longest time I had an idea of what I wanted, but no real idea of how to do it, after a few weeks I still only had the catalyst and an Idea but only had a week or two left to build it. Soon after I alerted my father about my struggle and he almost  immediately took me to buy some supplies. After I got some supplies I still only had a week and no top for the seat and the waiting game continued and I kept telling myself that I would do it at lunch times with the help of a friend but the idea kept slipping from my mind every time lunch rolled around, and soon enough I had about a day left. I went to my father again and told him of my problem and I finally finished building the seat.

This is what the final product looked like, when I had finished the top with my dad he threw out the idea of putting some kind of cushion on it, followed by upholstering it with jeans. I wanted to make it as aesthetically pleasing as I could so I went with it. Afterwards I thought it looked great and took it to class the next day.

If I had to do this again I would set this project as my priority and not forget so often, I would also try to get it done as soon as possible so I have less time to worry and more time to relax and not have to worry. So I would simply do it a lot sooner than I did with this one. 

I had learned a bit about myself, I had learned that I'm lazy and forgetful, but other than that I learned that if I start it, and I really start working on it, I can get some pretty cool things accomplished. I am very proud that I had actually finished the seat and how well it turned out. I had accomplished what I set out to do, and it came out rather well. The feeling I got when making this seat for someone else was, a bit exhausting, doing so much work for something that I may never use, but in the end it feels nice to see them so glad about something that you made for them. That is really my story about how I built this seat, and for any others that plan on doing this project, please finish this project as soon as you can, don't rush, but don't spend too much time on it either, if you do so, it'll turn out great and you have more time to relax.

Reality check post

this is my chair model of my original design, we had to talk with some fellow students to get some feed back and more ideas about what we can change with mine I am going to make it more compact and efficient, as tit is the chair/bench stays compressed together till some one goes and stretches it to reveal more comfortable seats between spots on the bench, but it can be used as a normal bench when pushed together, as for the wooden parts they will be glued and pressed together to make it more solid. 

Design standards 2

For the design of my chair, it isn't really going to be a chair but more like a couch, but it will take up as much space as a normal chair. (folded in atleast) my plan is to have little sections between armrests with seats in the middle, but my idea is that you have to expand the whole thing to bring out 3 or 4 seats, the whole thing will fit together as for the seats they will be made out of a fabric and work kinda like a camping chair, with the fabric acting as the support.

Design standards 1