Explain the work you did this week and what you expect as the final outcome.
we tested multiple iterations of prototypes regarding finding the solution to the “wobbling” problem.
we tested the idea of making a “plastic plywood” by pressing everything to half the thickness and then gluing two sets of CNC’ed pieces to form the intended thickness. the idea behind this was because our plywood prototype is much less flexible and didn’t have much of the wobble problem, so we thought it might increase the stability of the plastic.
after testing we found several problems with this method: 1. the glue was not in great condition so some of the pieces broke off shortly after gluing even though we applied clamp forces. 2. producing more pieces with CNC just mean there were more places that can go wrong. as we see in the first image, the tip broke in the process. 3. it was more difficult to align the pieces properly because of the irregularities on the surfaces. the thicker boards we pressed were much flatter on the surface. this might also contribute to the un-stableness of the glue.
anyway, in the end, we ditched this idea.
Max also had an idea of cutting many small slits along the tip, to increase the friction. the community had no problem with this idea, but we thought it’s not easy to make it look good so we abandoned it too.
What are the next steps you will take to finish it properly?
we are planning to try other methods to address the wobbling problem such as pushing the limit of the press and to try gluing even more layers together or pressing wood and plastic together to form a more stable board to be cut on CNC.
What will you do if this doesn’t work? What’s your plan B?
this actually should not be a plan b but we can always just increase the width of the pieces to hopefully make them stronger.
update Nov 26: the weight problem is no longer relevant since we came to know that they are quite happy with the weight and would be okay if we put a bit more weight on it. so we went ahead with the idea of widening the piece and not worrying about adding weight too much.
What are going to be your contributions to the team in the next days until the final presentations?
I will be in charge of setting up and cut on the CNC machine and also make the final designs of the piece.
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