11.) 3D PRINTED HOLLOW FORM OBJECT: THE HYBRID

Hybrid

The product of two girls who like pasta, a lot. 

Introduction: 

For our final milestone project we were instructed to create a hollow freestanding structure that we would have to be able to 3D print. The twist, however, was that in order to do this we had to collaborate with a partner, and have our final deign be a reflection of our collaboration. This meant that we had to take into account the function, form, support and print ability of our object. 

In order to first be able to do that we were able to explore and create on our own time 6 original ideas. To be honest, I began this part of the process not completely sure what I was doing, so my designs were more or less me looking at what I had learnt in class without being in the classroom setting. 

When collaborating with my partner we were able to not only create an original idea, but also break the ice whilst doing so. Luckily my partner and I were able to bounce ideas off of each other and have a good discourse around our own ideas and how they might interact with each other. When looking at my original 6 thumbnail designs we noticed that they surrounded the movement of twisting and bending, which reminded us of pasta. From there we thought about different pasta shapes and how they might be built in rhino and later 3D printed. We then thought of the ‘easier’ object of a vase and creating these twisting pasta forms as a sort of mimicry of art nouveau’s decorative designs. 

Once we had come to that conclusion we set to creating our ideas to later merge together. I focused on troubleshooting the pasta shapes and looking at what translated best as a macaroni or corkscrew pasta shape. 

My trouble shooting/ ideas: 

My partners original 6 ideas: 

My partner was the one to come up with the idea to create a snake out of the pasta shapes, from there we set to looking at different means of creating the project, with and without the snake idea incorporated. 

Once we had come to a design that we liked, and we also saw to fit the parameters of the assignment, we set to creating out design. While it was bit challenging to work on the same computer on the same design it was also very fun to be able to bounce ideas and troubleshoot with someone who wants to design the same idea. 

First design (ish)

Once we had a preemptive design, we put it into the PrusaSlic3r software to see how it would print and see any areas of difficulty or issue when printing it with the 3D printer. Immediately we noticed that the shape of the head and the decorative macaroni would not print properly, as they did not stem from the body properly. So, we had to look at the head and once again, trouble shoot. 

Trouble shot. 

Upon realizing that this design was not only comedically bad looking (in our opinion), it also created more problems for the printing process. Due to this we looked at ways to create a lip or chin, and finally came to the conclusion of our final design.