Alec Frank Final Project DigiTool (cafrank)
Intention
I have a chronic habit of fidgeting with things at all times. It can be sitting in class, on my couch, or at dinner with friends. The item that I carry with me now is a medal from Camp Tecumseh, the sports camp that I went to for 11 years. I have been carrying it with me for close to a year now as a reminder of CT, but also something to fidget with and distract myself. I wanted to replicate the uniqueness of the medal with relation to 2 distinct characteristics. The first is the sentimental value that it holds for me and the second is the “functional” value of allowing me to fidget with it. To combine these two functions, I wanted to create a cube with a combination of sides that would allow me to trace and play with them.
Research & Context
During the brainstorming and ideation phase of the project, I talked a lot about how I value items that remind me of experiences or people. John, who was my interviewer for the collaborative portion, also mentioned after how he picked up on similar things. Specifically, how I could make a unique combination of physical items and sentimental memories. I really liked the idea and so I focused on something that I could hold that would have features or functions that allowed me to be entertained by it and also reminded of memories by other parts.
These small toys are something that I really enjoy messing with during spare time or to keep me focused during class. One distinct one that I can recall is this, which I received for Christmas one year. This would be incorporated into my project in a sense.
Aesthetic Inspiration
As mentioned before, I had seen small fidget toys like this which gave me the initial inspiration for a cube. From traveling with family, I also have 2 Chinese walnuts which I sometimes spin in my hand (the background is explained here). With the cube in mind, I wanted to do something similar that had the sentimental aspect too.
Prototype and Sketches
The left image is a series of sketches that I made when deciding how I wanted to arrange the various sketches and faces. The image on the right is a prototype that I made to test the size of the moving pieces and to experiment with the orientation. I ended up needing to change the dimensions of the sliding track and rails in the 3D printed and laser-cut portions.
Process & Procedure
I began by thinking about how I wanted to assemble the box given the materials I was going to use. Since I needed varying depths for the moving parts, I had to 3D prints the inner cube. I also had to consider how I could put the moving pieces together so that those sides could still have a wooden exterior face. Once I outlined a process that would make that possible, I imported files to trace and etch the letters I wanted on the laser-cut wood. After I troubleshoot the size of the Chicago Screws, I had to resize the track and rail system to accommodate the difference (roughly .06 mm…). Thankfully, the 3D printed components were extremely snug so I didn’t need to glue them together. However, I did glue and sand the laser cut “case” to help it fit together.
Final Product
*As mentioned in my email, my final project was thrown away before I could take final pictures. These 2 pictures are the only ones I have of it, which are missing the moving parts. The renderings are what it would have looked like all together*
Reflection
Relative to the beginning, I believe I made my project more feasible given the constraints I was under. Things like time, skill, and technology were idealized in my first conception of the project but were realized as I went along. The 2 largest changes that I would make if I were to do this again are to “soft-code” things and to prototype more. One problem I had is that I used the wrong thickness for the wood frame so when I discovered the mistake, I had to go back and change all of the thicknesses one by one, including the depth of the finger joints. This would’ve been much faster if I used parameters. The second thing is to prototype more so that I would've discovered issues like the track width before I had the whole cube put together. If I were to do another iteration of this project, I would prototype much, much more. That would’ve allowed me to tackle problems like filling in spaces in the modeling software much earlier. I would also, as I talked about above, “soft-code” things and overall construct it in a smarter fashion so additional changes weren’t so difficult.
I think that, more broadly, I can take the process we went through for this project and apply it to my other pursuits like case competitions. The ideate process helped me flush out ideas early on and make sure that I had a solid justification for the path I was taking. While I will have the project on my desk for the rest of my tenure at CMU and possibly beyond, the most valuable takeaway for me was going through the creative process.
