Reverse Engineered Easel: PROGRESS II

 

This week, I continued recreating the plastic and metal components from my easel. I decided to work on these parts first because they have more complex and non-planar forms. Last week, I made a labelled diagram with all the components. This week, I worked on components "J," "H," and "E."

I enjoyed applying materials to my forms and making them look realistic with custom lighting modes. As I worked on the pieces, I was thinking of how I would display them in the final version.

Each section in this blogpost will show the different objects I recreated with some of the successes and challenges I faced. This week, it was very challenging for me to make progress because I had to use the easel for a Day of the Dead exhibition. I spent a lot of time disassembling and reassembling it to transport it and, while it was in the exhibition, I couldn't work on it. I stole a few screws (making sure the easel wouldn't collapse on its own) and worked on those in the meantime. Because of this event, and all the midterm assignments I had to work on, I did not make as much progress as I wanted to this week. I will try to make up for it this weekend.

In good news, my digital caliper finally shipped! I received it two days ago and have been getting familiar with it.

 

1) Completing Component "J"

screw model without materials

Last week, I overthought the process of making this component. I thought I would have to use the surface tools I recently learned. But after watching Bryan's class demonstration, I realized that I could recreate this screw with commands I was mostly familiar with. I took some screenshots of the key stages in the process and included them in the above composition. 

I used the interpolating points curve and revolved it to create a "shield-like" form. The shield form allowed me to BooleanSplit a curved surface on the extruded screw head (as seen in stages 3 and 4).  

I also used the FilletEdge command many times to round the edges of the screw head. 

Some new commands I used were ExtractWireframe, DupFaceBorder, and Shell. These commands allowed me to cave in the bottom of the screw head. The Shell command did not work on its own because the screw head had a design on the top that was too complex to "shell." So, Bryan showed me that I had to make an extrusion of the bottom face (which was retrieved with the DupFaceBorder command) and BooleanDifference it with the rest of the object. 

Adding Materials! Yay!

 

2) Making the Screw and Washer for Component "H"

Screenshots of the socket head screw being made

 

Close up of original socket head 

Component "H" has a low-profile socket head screw. It has a hexagonal drive style with curved edges at the top. 

I used a sphere and the BooleanDifference command to cut the curves at the top of the hexagonal hole.  

I also used the Loft command to create the transition shape between the threaded part of the screw and the head. 

Once I had the shape of the screw, I used FilletEdge to soften the hard edges and make the form look more like the original. 

This screw repeats 8 times in the design and is used to support the two main legs of the easel. 

 

The screws also come with respective washers...

 

3) Making the Screw from Component "E"

Component E has four tiny Phillip's rounded head screws. I used the Taper, Loft, FilletCorners, Ellipsoid, and Sweep commands to create this shape.

This week, I got a lot of practice making screws. Next week, I will likely work on the wheels and the metal height adjustor.

Additional Image of this week's work