So where to begin? Yes.. let's start with the same mobile that we left off on. Crabby. As you may or may not know, I made Crabby for my grandmother a couple of years ago, as she is quite fond of crabs. Fast forward a year, and I received news that she wasn't doing so well to put it mildly. After hearing this, I really wanted to make her a new crab- a better crab, which would hopefully lift her spirits and help get her through this tough time she was experiencing.
As I sat down to design, I came up with several paths I could go in. I thought of a crab wall clock, a hanging crab design, and just an entirely new crab in general. And then I had to reel myself in- I was going overboard and I knew it. Therefore I thought to myself, why change a good thing? So I went back to the old Crabby design, and decided that this one would be perfect for testing out how to make a mobile with the new materials and the machinery at school which I had just finished learning how to use.
The first step was to decide on which material I wanted to pursue. I have dabbled in using plexiglass in the past, but I couldn't find an adequate supply of it. I thought of using metal, aluminium or steel, but these proved to be not only expensive, but tougher to work with in general. These dead ends brought me back to using wood, plywood to be exact. Luckily my school workshop had plenty of free plywood to use, so it was just a matter of finding a smallish piece which would fit all of the Crabby pieces adequately.
The next step was to create the pieces in CAD, a computer aided design software. This template would later be used to program the machine. The machine used is a milling machine and I have become quite fond of him. His name is Roland and he is awesome at cutting out tiny mobile pieces. After the machine is programmed it's just a matter of fitting the material into the machine and pressing go! (ok not really that easy, but you get the idea).
The first step was to decide on which material I wanted to pursue. I have dabbled in using plexiglass in the past, but I couldn't find an adequate supply of it. I thought of using metal, aluminium or steel, but these proved to be not only expensive, but tougher to work with in general. These dead ends brought me back to using wood, plywood to be exact. Luckily my school workshop had plenty of free plywood to use, so it was just a matter of finding a smallish piece which would fit all of the Crabby pieces adequately.
The next step was to create the pieces in CAD, a computer aided design software. This template would later be used to program the machine. The machine used is a milling machine and I have become quite fond of him. His name is Roland and he is awesome at cutting out tiny mobile pieces. After the machine is programmed it's just a matter of fitting the material into the machine and pressing go! (ok not really that easy, but you get the idea).
