Fabrication of Organic Shapes

[bellsxwhistles]

Hi,

I'd like to know how to fabricate an organic shape created in rhino via laser cutting methods. You create strips of these "comb" like pieces and put them together in a grid to get the dynamic form, but my question is, how do you divide the shape up into those strips. This image should show you exactly what i mean. Any help is much appreciated

 

[fergusda]

3D fabrication from cross sections

I did a similar project to enlarge a 3D sculpture based on 2D cutouts.

In Rhino, I started with a 3D scan mesh (polymesh) and generated cross section cuts at regular intervals. That was pretty easy, and generated 2D profiles interlocking much like the photos shown.

The difficult part was creating the interface between the interlocking pieces. The correct way is to create 3D planar solids of the thickness of the material you want to use from the cross sections, and use those to boolean subtract from one another so you can create notches that interlock and allow you build the 3d 'puzzle' when everything is finished. I believe Rhino can do it, but I struggled a bit and switched to SolidWorks.

In SolidWorks, I offset the 2D perimeters lines of all of the pieces 1/4". I created two separate solids, one for the inside of the shape, and one for the 1/4" border around the perimeter. I used these borders to boolean subtract from one another to generate the interlocking notches. I merged all of the solids back toegether, and I had recreated the 3D puzzle.

I then generated 2D drawings of all of the pieces, which now had the correct notch shape cut out of each one. They were cut to scale with a laser, and used to create an enlargement of a 3D sculpture. Time consuming, but a pretty fun project.

-Dan
Bluegalaxy Design
Bluegalaxy Design