BEIL0014_ Assignment 2_The 1:1 Fuel Tank

May 23, 2018

BEIL0014_ Assignment 2_The 1:1 Fuel Tank

Stage 1: Prepare the Digital File of the Tank for Laser Cut.

Equipment:
Aluminum Sheet	English Wheel
Guillotine	Tinsnips
Wood Jigs	Metal Clamps
Round Nylon Headed Mallet	MDF
Drill	Flat Nylon Headed Mallet
Metal Scribe	masking Tape
Grooving Tool	Shrinker Stretcher
Bead Roller	Sandbag

I was so into Autodesk ReCap, but my group mates prefer the tank offered online, so we used Rhino and Sketchup made the digital tank. (Fortunately, I found out that digital lab has bought the new 3D scanning machine which I’ve seen on YouTube and recommended by some famous youtubers. Hopefully, I can spend some time play with it when I have time.)

We had some problems when we import stl. file into slicer. After 1 hour struggling, we finally began to ‘slice’ our model. Slicer is actually a smart software, it can generate the skeleton of the finished model and generate layout of the laser cut file automatically. There are several things we need pay attention to:

1. Test sheets in class to make sure leave enough error space for each slot size. Martin recommend 0.8mm error. But I insist 0.3mm… and our slices fits perfectly;) I think 0.2-0.4mm is the best~

2. An efficient number of slice saves time in laser cutting and save the environment. Our group choose 13x15 slices. The final model is stable especially after we apply glue and tape on the model.

3. Manually arrange the layout of the automatic generated layout file. The software only able to place section slice horizontally! But manually place some of the slice vertically can save many space and materials.

4. Choose the ideal structure. Choose the right lice direction and shape, provide the most stable and environmental-friendly structure.

Then we were ready to laser cut.

The new Trotec machine has already code with correct power and distance for different material, which are very user friendly. All we need to do is:

1. Edit layout file with InDesign.

2. Ensure file is in RGB mode

3. Ungroup all objects and remove all masks (very important, we wasted half piece material because we forgot to remove a line in a mask, and this line cut 2 pieces of the slice into half in the end! Hopeless…)

4. Assign to objects the right appropriate color.

5. Change the line weight of all the strokes into 0.001

Tips: the file generated by Slicer has many numbers to help you assemble. 95.34% of them can be delated and this will save you heaps of time! (e.g. below each slot there is 1,2,3,4,5,6…14,15. Only keep 1 and 15.)

Then the preparation of the file is finished. The file is ready to laser cut.

Stage 2: Laser Cut and Assembling

Only use the machine when you finish the digital fab foundation course!

Stay in the digital fab as short time as you can! The air quality is awful. (But I kinda addicted to the smell;))))))))

When assembling, place the bottom slice first (in our case is z series) and lock them by piece y-1 and y-15. Then apply glue to each slot and slide into the slot easily.

Apply tape around the model… which my group did not do at the first, because we didn’t get the point… and we still don’t get the point in the end. I guess our model is already stable with glue and have enough slices, so there’s no need for the tape? :)

Stage 3: Prepare the Metal Sheet

1. Divide the tank into three parts. I got left side part. But in the end, we smash and roll and cut and sand any place we don’t satisfied. Group work!

2. Measure the size of the metal we need by using a piece of A3 paper.

3. Cut the piece of metal we need.

Stage 4: Bang-Bang-Bang! (I believe everybody has similar steps, if I write all of them it will be a nightmare to read. I will just choose some the part that might be different from others to document on the blog.)

1. I found 3 pieces of wood in the rubbish bin in workshop, and lock them on the table by two metal clamps to make a little slit between the wood and workshop bench. The horizontal wood is sanded and has a round edge to avoid marks. Then I slide my metal sheet into the slit and bend it. I can use the rolling tool in the work shop but I want to avoid unified radius, because the radius of the tank is keep changing on different spot.

2. I chose the shrink tool in the work shop to shrink the small radius edge, but it turned out is a bad idea… because the metal we are using is too thin and the tool obvious designed for thicker metal. The part be shrunk by the tool tend to crack and fold in later process. But this tool definite can help to create small radius curve efficiently.

3. I used the new tool and create grooves on two side pieces. Our idea was, making grooves on two side pieces and place the lid I the groove. Too young too naive! If we have that good skill we might have our own handmade motorbike shop already! The grooves are perfect and the lid is good, but they cannot fit together perfectly, which is annoying… I believe if we are allowed to weld these three pieces together we can definitely create a better shape.

The tool leaves marks on the metal. Hopefully, lab can provide some rolling wheels with smaller width.

4. The most annoying part of shape large piece of metal is that, after you bend metal in one direction, the perpendicular direction will be flat… and I just keep repeating this “flat-bended-flat-bended-flat…process day by day… but later I found out that, if we press all the direction, only leave a small portion of the metal without pressure, and just smashing this part, the shaping process will be efficient. Thank god, I have some good teammates, they hold the metal for me by their body with all kinds of strange body gestures, under the rick of smashed by hammer:) and I did the same thing for them as well.