Final look

Final look

After all this process, I am really glad I got this perfect my metal sheet perfectly fit with my model. These photos below shows different angel view that how they fit together .

Final attempt

Final attempt

figure 1

 In the second attempt, I got a lot of improvement by using different type of hammer and tool. This time I focus on the curve on the body, to achieve this, I do several mark on the metal to point out different part of concave (figure 1)

figure 2

By using different metal tool and hammer to achieve different purpose the tool show as figure 2 allow me to create a tiny pop up on the metal sheet 

figure 3

 The iron hammer is use for shrinking and bending. The wood hammer is use for stretching. In the process, I always have these two hammer (figure 3) with me, it allows me to do any shaping action. 







The tool show as figure 4, it provide me a curve shape to follow with. it is the tool that I use to fit my metal sheet into the model's base curve (figure 5).

figure 4 

figure 5

First Attempt

First Attempt 

figure 1

Even I have complete the metal induction and look through some metal sheet making video, the first attempt still is a disaster.

First I use paper to cover my model to figure out what kind of shape I gonna cut out in my metal sheet. After that I use scissor to cut out the shape and draw it over on the metal sheet. 

Once I got my correct metal sheet shape, I use marker to mark out which part I need to bend it in (figure 1).

figure 2

 During this process, I have found a important thing about bending, it should always bend the metal by same side of sheet.

I did try to mark a line on anther side (figure 2) and the fact is, I just make worse than before. Once I start to bend the sheet on the other side, the metal start be stretched and be twisted. You should always bend the metal by same side. 

figure 3

However, I got a rough metal shape of my model which only be bended by the edge (figure 3). I will improve this surface whit my next attempt. 

Final Template

Final Template 

The final template is 290 mm long, 100 mm wide and 120 mm high. I am glad that it doesn't change a lot from real object to laser cut model. I do a little adjustment of the size just to fit my layout into two plywood sheet but it almost a 1 :1 model. The most important thing I want focus on the object is the curving surface and the cure shape base. I will really work on how to fit the metal sheet with the model. 

123D Make

123D Make

figure 1

 Whit a mesh which already fixed by meshmixer, I can start to explore our laser cutting panel via 123D make. 
There are several things have to be aware, the first thing is the size of the laser cutting material. The maximum size of laser cut machine in UNSW Fab Lab is 600 mm*300 mm. 
Another important thing is the thickness of the material, I chose 3 mm thick plywood to be my laser cutting material. My laser cut model is an interlocked  model which will create a waffle structure (figure 1).
For my personal experience, if the model is a interlocked model,, it is batter to make 0.5 mm thicker when you inter the thickness in 123D make. Whit this setting, it will be much more easy to join each piece together especially for plywood as plywood is a material which  won't always be flat. 
The laser cutting layout should be like figure 2, it will have a preview of the layout at the right side. As the preview, my model will cost two sheet of plywoo and it will be 14 parts to join together. 

figure 2

Laser Cutting

Important notice for laser cutting

After complete the laser cutting panel by 123d make, the PDF file must open by Adobe Illustrator. The reason of using Illustrator is make an adjustment for laser cutting.

Figure 1

•  First step: select all the line in the file and make sure change the stroke weight into 0.001(Figure 1)
• Second step: Change the structure line color into red and the word color into blue (figure 2, 3)

Figure 2

Figure 3

Start by 123D Catch and Meshmixer

Start by 123D Catch and Meshmixer

figure 1

I use 123d catch to turn the ordinary photos into extraordinary 3D models (figure 1). The link below provide a tutorial of using 123d catch
Create your first project
Software Download
123d catch Download

figure 2

After 123d catch will create the mesh, I import the mesh into meshmixer which provide me an opportunity to fix the mesh or make some adjustment.
By using meshmixer I be able to make the surface smoother and fill all the hole in the mesh. The completed model should be smooth and solid, it can be seen at figure 2, 3.
Tutorial collection for mesh mixer: Meshmixer tutorial
Meshmixer official website 

figure 3

Choose object

Choose object

The object I choose is a basketball shoes (figure 1) which is my inspiration of my second year project. It is a project that ask us to design a restaurant, I inspired by this shoes' curve and color which fit with my concept " Highlight in the dark". By using curving wall and point light (figure 2 ) I got a great achieve with this project. And the color of the shoes also give me some idea of my material choosing (figure 3).

figure 1

figure 2

figure 3