Mat + Proc Final

Here is Clayton and My final Materials and Processes presentation:
[click to enlarge images]

Öliblock

The company currently makes these

different amorphous blocks that are kinda cool that feature

magnets and friction fit

joints that kids can put together to build ambiguous structures.

The problem was to come up with a building block product tha

t the company could market that would use a similar language, but have more linear forms.

Having talked to a friend of mine (a mother with five kids) we came to the opinion that the blocks were boring, a little too ambiguous to hold the attention of

young kids. Though they had ample construction capabilities (the "logic") the lacked any other interesting or useful qualities. Also, the friction fit joints were difficult for small children to assemble and disassemble.

note: by "explotation" i definitely meant "exploration." I fixed it in the presentation, but I guess this is a slightly older vertion, lol

Here are some process shots and a concept map of our ideas

We decided to go with a customizable night light for a couple of reasons. First, it gave us the oppurtunity to work with lights and circuitry. We thought that the opportunity for a light to glow every time two things were connected would provide for a certain wonder in children, and an opportunity for them to experiment and learn.

We also liked how a night-light gives a child comfort in his darkest hour (hehe) and believe that a personal connection through a customizable light source may play upon these ideas.

Also, we think LEDs and circuits are cool.

The blocks themselves are three sided. There is a male end, a female end, and a magnet. In order for the piece to be injection molded, the actual interlocking pieces are made separately (investment molded steal) and put in the machine with the LEDs so that the EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) can be molded around them.

Also, the use of metal on the ends allows complete circuits to be made when pieces are connected together. The pieces can be joined (male-female) by putting together and twisting 90 degrees.

EVA is a recyclable, environmentally clean and safe material that can be molded like plastic. It is safe enough to be used around food products, making it preferable to the PVC (polyvinyl chloride) used to make öliblock toys now. It is also cheaper than PVC. In this case, it will be clouded translucent and colored.

The blocks get their power from a battery powered base structure that has three magnet connections (allowing it to connect to any of the three possible sides of the blocks). The low currency of the device means it is safe for kids, and emits a low glow, perfect for a night-light.

Pieces are stored on this base by placing the magnet end of the piece toward the center where it will attract to one of the two angled metal pieces. This arranges the pieces in a circular formation (we call it the shrimp

cocktail formation) for storage and shipping.

By storing them this way, we believe we can eliminate (or at least

drastically reduce) the amount of waste from packaging. Most toys, these days, come in cardboard or plastic packaging that lasts only as long as the car ride home. By incorporating the base, packaging, and container, we can eliminate the package waste that the current öliblock product line creates.

There are more slides that have material information as well as orthographic views, but Clayton has those. Maybe I'll upload them later, but probably not.

Just know that they are made of LEDs, injection molded EVA, and investment cast steal.

-kyle


PS:
Designed this toy and made this presentation start-to-finish in three days

Daft Punk Helmets (for sara)

For Sara:

First, I'd say that there are about 1,000 ways to do this and you could spend any amount of money (I think the real ones cost like $14,000 or something ridiculous).

This is how I would do it on a modest budget.  It will take a lot of time, but none of it should be terribly difficult.  I don't know how much experience you have making things, but if you go into the art and design common shop (nobody will ask, but if they do, just tell them you're a graphic designer or something) anyone working there cold help you and would probably get a kick out of it.

I made some quick sketches so it will be more understandable (hopefully).  Click on them to make them bigger.

1. I would carve the form out of foam.  My friend clayton says that there is some really cheap medium density modeling foam in the shop that would be big enough.  You 

can borrow some of halsey and my tools if you want.  The stuff should be really easy to carve down and sand.

2.  Once you get it to the right shape, you can use the plastic forming machine in the common shop.  I can help you with this it you want.  Basically, how the machine works it this: 

A large sheet of plastic is heated up and draped over your form.  Then suction from underneath provides a vacuum to pull all the plastic towards the form.  The reason we use foam is because it is porous, so the plastic should sit up quite nicely.  You'll want to make sure that you set the foam model on a podium of some sort so that the plastic sheet will be pulled up around the bottom.  After that, you'll simply cut the excess plastic of with a saw.

3.  From there, you'll need to carve out the foam.  It is important to get all of it out, otherwise the black visor wont look as nice (more on that later).  

3.5  I would make the little side deals separately though.  Use some 3/4 in MDF or plywood (there should be enough scrap either in the shop or my garage, you won't neet do buy it) to cut out the shapes.  Then glue them or screw them to the sides of the helmet.

4.  Painting would work two different ways.  

Black:  For the black part, you're going to want to shoot spray paint on the inside of the plastic. When you do this, it will give the illusion from the outside that it is tinted glass.  

Make sure you tape off the inside where you're eyes will see out of.  You can cover this with car tinting sheets.  I might have some around from the iSolate project that I did freshman year.  If not, they have it at walmart.  For the Silver helmet, you could do the entire piece like this, but the gold helmet has to complex of a curve, you'll need to use paint for it.

Gold:  There is an auto parts store on 6th street (and alabama? misissippi? Florida?  somewhere around there?  that sells spray cans of auto paint.  This is the best paint you can find, and it will look realistic if you use it.  Mask off the part that you want to stay black, and spray it on.  Make sure you rough sand it and prime it first (other wise it will look like crap).  

With painting, the more you sand it and coat it the better it will turn out.  

5.  From there, I would suggest getting some kind of bike helmet or something that conforms to your head and attaching it to the inside somehow.  This way, the helmet will sit on your head and not your shoulders and will turn when you turn your neck.

I hope this was helpful.  I usually use this blog to show people things, but Facebook wouldn't support images this large.  Let me know if you need help or have questions.  I don't really have much time for stuff this semester, but I do like projects, especially other people's

good luck,

-kyle

The stuff on the wall

here are some old marker renders from the bulletin board in my room

Alright, time for the first sketch,
more particularly, I made this blog to track the progress of my renders using the new intuos 4

so here is the first sketch EVER

[Mat & Proc Assignment]

the first post

Well, here is the blog
I've been meaning to do this for a while

and I'm basically talking to myself, because I don't really intend for anybody to read this, I just want to post renders somewhere so I can easily see the progress over some amount of time.

But maybe one day somebody will read this,
who knows