grant proposal Farnham letter Darren Cuzner letter Grayshott letter
The changes between the grant proposal and the original application
It became very clear early on in the project that it would be demanding for Farnham College of art to work on the item because time would be needed to work out some of the problems that relate to process in my 3-D model. I did not want to create model after model with all the financial burdens that that would put on the grant if the item was designed wrong or could not go through an industrial process.The initial 3-D model that was produced by Farnham. However the glue that is used in the stages of manufacture put the model measurements out so I decided to develop my own arrangement, I wanted a system that I could use indefinitely without relying on a another organisation.
I found it very difficult to work with greyshot pottery, the object that I want to produce takes a little thinking about clay shrinkage and the way the item will fit into each other after glazing not forgetting how the clay warps during the firing process. So the master moulds have to be an incredibly high standard. And because I am working towards a new way of making my items as well I am not yet in a position where I can confidently generate a factory ready prototype.
The level of research and answers I had to develop was beyond anything I had previously thought. And the pottery had no answer either, well perhaps a little cynicism. Well I think I have solved the warping issue and also the thickness of glaze. Which just leaves the master mould, and I will be talking about that through this blog. I am working with Roger Michelle to produce the final ceramic prototypes. Although he's retired he is one of the best ceramic modellers ther is. And he will be able to rectify some of the difficulties in both the shapes I am producing, and the new way in which I am building the modes to produce the shapes. Once the master moulds are produced I will take them to Greyshot pottery.
Developing the shapes with blender blender is an open source programme which makes incredibly good STL files although it is not a solid modeling program the meshes that it creates a fantastic. The items that I am making alongside Darren are incredibly detailed and I would not have thought it possible that these things can be developed by a three piece of software. The blender community are vast and unbelievably supportive and welcoming. The blender software can be used to create objects animations and edit film, this is media tools at its best but it is like having a pottery studio in your computer screen. The pieces that I wish to produce our under a confidentiality agreement the peace that I am showing you on this blog is a simple generic shape. http://www.blender.org/
Foison c24 Cutter Plotter
I needed a Cutter Plotter with good cutting force that was cheap enough to just trial the idea.
The Foison ticked all the boxes.
The website is here http://www.signwizard.co.uk/
Materials that I am using
rtv 420 silicone rubber, after explaining what I was doing on the phone Geoff Vickers of Silicone Solutions supplied me with a sample of the rtv rubber. I had a play with it because I am trying to get a screw thread out of a one piece mould I felt tear strength was not up to the job rather than asking Geff for another sample I added RockBond Polypropylene fibre 6mm which not only improved tear strength but knocked the shrinkage dead. I have always been put off by using silicone rubber because as a small business I would need different compounds of the rubber to give me different hardness and viscosity. I should be able to order a big batch of rtv 420 and add the fibers to my liking. Silicone Solutions have been incredibly supportive and very free with their time and knowledge. thank you! The website is here http://www.silicone-solutions.co.uk/ the fibres can be found here http://www.rockbond.co.uk/index.html
I decided against using sticky back card because I will be pouring liquid rubber into the relief structure, although the top surface of the card is treated the sides of the card may swell. The card itself only tends to come sheets and to be cost effective I need a material that comes on a roll. I decided to use Aslan S68 and S64 Sandblasting Film. S68=180 µm S64=330 µm. It's made from PVC so it should not react or swell with the silicone rubber that I am using. The website address and company name where I ordered it from is below.
(mop) Mulberry design + print
http://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/sandblastingfilm.asp?parentcatname=Sandblasting%20Film&parentcat=58
I have changed the pegs that were provided with the program they were too small to give me any height on an object that I made build. Instead I am using a system called kre8.
Their web address http://kre8ive.co.uk/index.php?main_page=products_all&zenid=e89be2d
The three pieces being used are
Metal Bearings - 5mm Ø
5mm Ø Light Blue Rod 200mm Long
3.9mm Ø Grey Tube 200mm Long
The Metal Bearings acts as a footplate which the Grey Tube slots into while the Light Blue Rod slides over the Grey Tube this means I can make the support pegs as long as I like, making tall models I hope. And once the feminine relief structure is created I can remove both Light Blue Rod and Grey Tube so that I can a put a sheet of glass over the top to encase the silicone rubber. Kre8 is also cheap.
Boxford Rapid pro programme
http://www.boxford.co.uk/boxford/docs/products/rapid_content.htm
I was drawn to the boxford rapid pro programme primarily because of the borders that it generates around the parts that it prints out. As a model maker I have to manually put a border around the objects that I make anyway to stop the wet liquid from spilling on the table. And I figure that by using a plotter to cut my objects, all I have to worry about is stacking the individual sheets on top of one another to make the desired part. There is no part size restriction the only restriction is the surface area of your plotter. Because I produce the feminine cut away of a mould I am not restricted by the materials that I want to produce the final object from. I have used traditional 3-D printers before but the glue that is used to strengthen The Object puts 0.25mm (not even) on to the surface of the model so pieces do not slot together easily. The printer that does not need the glue tends to produce objects that are too hard for me to get the rtv silicone rubber out of.
Setting up my Cutter with the rapid pro pro programme has been very time consuming because rapid pro needs a windows printer driver for it to recognise the plotter and the only plotter with such drivers are the Rowland's. Because of the .rpp file type that rapid pro uses you cannot export the designs that you make to another programme with a standalone driver. I got around the problem by using another program called winline. web here http://www.winline.com/ Which puts the plotter in your windows printer manager.
Another problem that I found was because the peg holes are printed after the individual stencils have been cut they very rarely lineup this is probably because I am using a role of material and it is hard work for the Cutter To move the material to the right place without its sliding minutely on the rollers. But that said the last row of holes that it prints do tend to line up where the first are skew whiff, if it was merely sliding I would expect none of the holes to line up! This problem has been solved by putting a CAD model of the pegs into the object that I wish to produce so the peg holes get cut on the same pass as the object.
This is somewhat irksome for me as the program itself is a beautifully designed. It guides you through the development process flawlessly the fantastic material library that you can change not only dimensions of your materials but even the way the Cutter processes your shapes. Because however of the two problems I have outlined, in reality you are restricted on the material that can be processed and even a the Cutter that you can process the material with.
Letter to boxford
RPbyHand is an interesting programme because it saves the stencils that you make into a standard file format bmp. Although bmp files are not that accurate when being used with this process, RPbyHand was never designed to be used on a Cutter. The files can then be batch processed into a sign making piece of software. Giving you the ability to print out hundreds of stencils at a time. You can also put different stencils from multiple objects on the same cutting job saving you lots of material. However I will be keeping to rapid pro at least on the early stages of development, because of the accuracy that it gives you on the stencil cuts.
http://rpbyhand.myartsonline.com/
Process
The building system is very simple the first layer of material ( with the biggest holes) is backed on to a sheet of toughened glass. you then carry on building up the sheet levels until your model is complete. I used soft soap to get the air out from between the sheets. Soft soap also doubles up as a barrier between the PVC layers and the silica rubber that will be tipped into the model design later. One thing I've realized one's the model is finished, its importance to leave the pegs in until dry, because otherwise the PVC layers slide around.
I do not know whether it is possible to see this image properly because the lights in my house, are atrocious however the image on the computer screen is the same one I am holding in my hands the item took me 2 hours to build up.
From the picture above I produced this silicone rubber
Processes to upload What has been achieved
developed a rudimentary rtv silicone rubber mouldHow the PVC join lines are taken out by nappy cream
Making the plaster Moulds
Slip cast the ceramic shapes
Firing the prototype models
3-D scanning
http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
I have developed a design for one of the ceramic pieces because it is too logos that cut into one another where they cross, part of the logo becomes relief and the other becomes raised on both of the individual designs, this is incredibly complicated two develop in CAD, simply the amount of Pollygonss that make up the mesh makes the whole process confusing as I have to trace the design by hand in the programme as it does not seem to be able to work out all of the relief and raised bits by itself. The angle of the design will need to be changed so that when it is made into a plaster mould it comes away easy without sticking.
I've got around this by 3-D scanning the design that I want into the computer with david-laserscanner the original design was made for the 3-D print that a got from Farnham it was too complicated for me to make CAD program then, so I made it in 2-D with a program called Inkscape. Got the design made into a rubber stamp and stuck it on to the 3-D model that I got from the college, when I added the silicon rubber it reacted Badly with a natural rubber of the stamp. But if I can put the design on when it is still in CAD form I will not have trouble with materials reacting badly against materials.
The greater potential
I would like to develop a system where our designers artists and craftsmen will be able to generate a mould cheaply and easily out of the material that they desire. Using open source programmes like blender to conceptualise their initial idea.
but it would be possible to send the file that you make to a sign making company, they would have bigger cutters so you could make big concrete modes for example a piece of public art.
As an artist I have always been more interested in process than a outcome! I was originally drawn to ceramics because process on how an object was made seem to be on bendable.This is possibly a symptom of my cerebral palsy, because of lack of coordination and perception my anarchist streak tells me that I not only have to master the process but beat it into submission until it is a bloody mess on the floor. The thing that I find interesting as I am older is that because of problems with movement my solutions vastly fly in all directions until coming up with the silver bullet which an abled body person could not have even perceived because I'm working towards ease of movement it just seems to give a more eloquent process. And because of sometimes an unrecognisable process after I had messed with it, I reckon a good outcome!
