03.08 3D Print and Laser Cut Ideation Sketches and Cardboard Model Assignment

Assignment Deliverables

1. Minimum 5 thumbnail sketches
   • Label files YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname thumbnail sketches
2. Minimum 3 larger refined ideations
   • Label files YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname refined sketches
3. Upload a series of labeled images or a compiled pdf (png, jpg, pdf)
4. Cardboard model of 1 of the refined ideas at 1:1 scale (actual size)

Assignment Overview

The goal of this project is to explore material hybridity. You will tackle specific design challenges using the 3D printing fabrication process in combination with Laser Cutting. to design a lamp. You must solve the puzzle of how two disparate manufacturing processes, Additive 3D Printing and Subtractive Laser Cutting, can work together to create a functional object.

While a laser cutter is great at flat planes, it is poor at 3D geometry. A 3D printer excels at complex shapes but does not have the speed and material strength of planar laser cut forms. Your challenge is to use each for its unique strengths.

Sketch Requirements

• Thumbnails - These should be 5 completely different ideas. Draw without constraint. Do not limit your concepts. It takes ~ 5-10 minutes to draw a decently developed thumbnail sketch. If you finish a thumbnail under 2 minutes, it may lack depth and consideration. If you spend much more than 10 minutes on a thumbnail sketch, then you might be getting bogged down in details instead of brainstorming multiple ideas. (Time 25 - 50 minutes)
• Refined Ideations - Choose some of your ideas from your thumbnails. Refine them and iterate on the concepts. Which parts do you like and which parts can you change to make your ideas better?
• What are Ideation Sketches?

Where to Start?

Start by looking at the world around you and at the internet.

• 3D Printed Lamps  
• Laser Cut Lamps  
• e26 Lamp Socket Mounting  
• Laser Cut Light Diffusion Panels  

Cardboard Model

• Get some cardboard. There is some in the classroom. Use good clean cardboard rather than old, torn, and bent cardboard so you are not fighting the material.
• Make a 1:1 scale model. This means real world scale. If you are using 1/4" plywood or acrylic, then make your cardboard the same thickness. We want the model to be accurate and full scale so we can test our ideas quickly.
• Attempt to use or communicate the joining and assembly techniques that you plan to use with the laser cutter, such as slots, grooves, tabs, and butt joints.
• Often it is not possible to use the same construction techniques with cardboard that you will use with wood or acrylic cut with the laser cutter.

Project Minimum Design Requirements

• Use E26/27 Lamp Socket and Bulb
• Use 1/8" - 1/4" - 3/8" - 1/2" plywood or clear acrylic
• Have a minimum of 1 laser cut joint
• Have a minimum of 1 3D printed thread, captive nut, or threaded insert
• Have a minimum of 1 surface with laser engraving or etching
• Create a joint or connection between the 3D print and the laser cut piece(s)

Design Challenges

Often creative work has arbitrary restrictions on the creative process. There may be challenges based on material availability, budget, time, aesthetic criteria and countless other constraints on what you can make. Part of your job as an artist and designer is to work around these restraints and still create new and compelling creative works of culture.

Lamp Challenge

For this project you are required to design a functional and aesthetic lamp. The lamp design needs to accommodate planar forms cut from a laser cutter. While a 3D printer could print a flat rectangle of plastic, it would be slow, wasteful, weak, and not very flat. Plywood and acrylic sheet are already flat and are good planar building materials. How can you use the relative strengths of each material to create something better than using one material alone?

Laser Cut: Large surface areas, structural planes, diffusion panels.

3D Print: Custom brackets, threaded housing for the E26 socket, complex tactile switch enclosures, or decorative components for the structure.

Grading Rubric