puff the machine

POSTED IN objects | TAGS : lasercutting, maya, rapid prototyping, screen
1.01.2010

For our midterm project, Adi Marom and I built a machine whose purpose was to create an “inflatable” structure. Our original proposal was the transformation of the shape and size of these structures through air using a piston-and-crank mechanism, powered by either a servo or DC motor. In the end, we chose to focus more on the mechanism itself and using the idea of paper-folded “puffer fish” as a whimsical counterpoint to the solid sleek nature of the linkages and pistons used to make them expand and contract.

STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS

The geared DC-motor powers the mechanism that controls the expansion and contraction of our structures. A crank and double-piston mechanism was used to convert between the rotary motion of the motors to the reciprocating motion of the “pumps”. The linkages were first drawn in AutoCAD which was than converted to an illustrator file to create the template that  was laser-cut out of a clear acrylic sheet.  The “pumps” were made from acrylic rods & tubes.