UNIT 6 3D Workshop

The 3D workshop was my most hectic workshop due to the fact that this was when all the individual pieces were fixed together, in all the other workshops I created single elements whereas the 3D workshop provided the majority of my sculpture. My design was rather complicated and I had to dedicate a lot of extra time to returning to the workshop to complete the sculpture. I used a wide variety of tools, techniques and processes throughout the production of my final piece gaining skills and knowledge.

The Base: I first marked out a square measuring 42cm by 42cm on a MDF board and then proceeded to marking the sides of the dodecagon by bisecting the lines between the points to find the centre of the two extra sides therefore the dodecagon would be mathematically correct. I cut out the shape of the dodecagon using the band saw and sanded down all twelve sides using the disc sander

The inner circular structure: the inner structure was made up of the full length curved flexi ply and the strip of sheet steel.The wooden half was made by gluing together two sheets of flexi ply wood that measured 24cm tall by 38cm

wide, once glued together they were curved around a drum that had a radius of 11cm and was held in place with belts, I also planed the edges with scrap wood to make sure the edges would follow the curve. Whilst the glue dried I began to curve the strip of sheet steel (6cm tall by 40cm wide) by feeding the steel through metal rollers repetitively until it had curved to follow the curve of the design. The steel curve was connected to the plywood by bolts, therefore I had to drill holes through both components using the pillar drill.

The outer circular structure and support between circular structures: The outer circular structure was composed of

two curved sheet of steel that remain separated. The shorter strip measured 8cm tall by 18.8cm wide and the longer strip measured 8cm tall by 28.3cm wide. Both strips were curved using the same method as before; repetitively feeding the sheets through metal rollers until the curve follows the design. The five sloped walls that connected the inner and outer walls were made of MDF and were placed to provide for the outer circle to have a surface to be glued to. Two of the five were slightly larger as they were placed so that they connected to the curved steel of the inner circle. These MDF shapes were cut using the band saw and sanded by the disc sander.

The Plastic aspects: The first plastic component was the blue perspex stairs. We measured out a sheet of perspex as 34cm tall and 10cm wide, I added 4cm to the height as we will use some of the height each time we bend the plastic. To bend the perspex I used a line bender which heats up a line of the plastic allowing you to bend the plastic over a corner to replicate the same angle; the angle I used was 90 degrees. The pre cut acrylic clear cylinder (7cm tall and a radius of 5cm) was used to create the topmost circular structure that is suspended and supported by two side panels however for now I only needed to position both plastic aspects so that I could create markings for the supporting pieces.

Supports for the suspended cylinder: The supports for the suspended cylinder proved to be a difficult task as we had to mark make whilst balancing the acrylic on rulers and try be as accurate as possible and think of a way to connect the supporting elements to the rest of the structure. We decided to create a slotting mechanism for the piece that connects to the ply wood section of the inner circle however we starting creating the slot in the wrong place therefore to solve the problem we decided to add a decorative shape that would slot into the accidental fixture. Once we had marked out the correct place I used a tennon saw to cut out the shape and a file to open it out to create a secure fixture. For the actual

supports I cut out rectangular shapes with on sloped side out of MDF using the band saw and then sanded the shapes with the disc sander. I then had to figure out a method of connecting the supports to the acrylic cylinder and to perspex stairs.

Fixtures for supports to acrylic cylinder and perspex stairs: After several suggestions from the 3D instructors I decided to use exposed angles dowel joints, for the dowel I used 1/16th brass brazing rod. I marked out all the holes and then very carefully drilled the small holes using the pillar drill and used the hand drill to open up the holes to make sure the

dowel would fit but still be secure. Creating the fixtures was difficult due to the small size of the rod which needed to be bent at 90 degree angles, once I had produced all six fixtures I moved onto assembling all the components.

Incorporate the ceramics and printmaking elements: The ceramics slab I had created followed the curve of the inner circle therefore I positioned it in between the inner and outer circles in the gap next to the perspex stair, in 3D terms it was a simple task of gluing the slab onto the base as the curved shape would prevent it from leaning or falling however the glue lowered the risk. For the print making elements I used the etching plate and the most successful print to create both halves of the topmost circle, these were attached by the excess dowel on he inside of the cylinder.