Diagram
Lots of children get lost in mega events like Expo. The aim of this project is to create a furniture which incorporates a device for lost kids and elements to entertain them. The design is easy reproducible through 3D printing in many Expo areas. The project includes a bracelet with a QR-code and an app for smartphones.
Elevation
The surface twists from horizontal to vertical to ensure a non-flat interface which ensures more types of activity. In geometry, circle packing is the study of the arrangement of circles (of equal or varying sizes) on a given surface such that all circles touch one another. Applied the gravity to the computation in Grasshopper, the lower circle is firmer. Excluding the bigger ones, the 900 circles have a diameter between 4.5 to 10.5 cm with a good feasibility in 3d printing.
Grasshopper
- The first thing to consider is the constraint. Because it would affect the production and the interaction with children.
- After defined the constraints, compute the force inside the surface.
- The shape then was extruded based on the curves.
Machine
A typical fabrication technique
FDM (fused deposition modelling) is one of the most common 3D printing techniques. It is based on the ‘layer by layer’ material extrusion, usally thermoplastic polymers, trough a nozzle.
Cylinders will be printed through a clay printer. Fibers, colors, finish can be chosen among many possibilities.
A general plan of fabrication
In this case the overall structure has been divided in 22 panels with dimensions that can vary but perfectly fits the printer plate. Besides the two panels linking the bench and the wall, the other 20 panels are flat and will not need any support. This allows to reduce timing, costs and waste. Each panel is connected to the other through a really symple interlocking system based on threaded bars and nuts, the system is self-bearing, being much heavier at the bottom.