Theater

Designers end up getting all sorts of jobs. I recently visited a former student who was doing fascinating work in set design. It is a great example of merging art, design and engineering.

Jeff was very gracious and toured me and my family around the wonderful sets made at Sight and Sound Theater. It is encouraging to see that people can take largely unconstrained ideas, draw them and then build them in such grand style. They bring much enjoyment to everyone involved.

I’m also impressed by all the attention to detail that is rooted in experience. Knowing where the actors wear out parts, where they actually walk, what parts have to be done with high resolution and which can be simplified.

 

 

 

Material Selection Cheat Sheet

Designers work in a void.  One of the voids to be filled is selecting appropriate materials.  I have my favorites.  The selection is usually based on performance characteristics such as yield strength and ability to transfer heat.  However, the feel of a material lies beyond conductivity numbers and surface hardness.  Many elements of touch points need to be approached qualitatively.

Material selection is a balance of money, performance and manufacturability. Parts that are not subject to extreme temperatures can usually be made out of plastic, with polyethylene and other commodity plastics at the low end to the ubiquitous ABS on up to high strength, high temperature superstars.  Parts made out of A36 hot rolled steel or gray cast iron are cheap and strong yet we love titanium and gold at the other extreme.

There are natural divisions of material selection based on strength, weight, temperature, thermal and electrical conductivity, production volume and of course cost.  However, at the end of the day you have to pick something so here is a summary of my favorite material types.  This is just a starting point and is largely directed at metals.

Steel

• A36
• 1018
• 1040 (high strength)

Chromium (Stainless) Steel

• 304 (low Chromium)
• 316 (high Chromium, highly corrosion resistant)

Aluminum

• 5052 (good choice for flat work, not machining)
• 2011 (free machining alloy)
• 2024 (high strength, heat treatable)
• 6061 (high strength, structural alloy)

Brass

• C36000, Free Machining (machines like butter)

Polymers

• ABS (common injection moldable polymer)
• Low Friction: Delrin (lots of great surface treatments or impregnations are available with many polymers)
• Epoxies are used in carbon and aramid fiber composites.

Machined Prototype Materials

• Delrin, Nylon 6/6, brass and aluminum. 
• Additive manufacturing has changed prototyping approaches and material selection!

Favorite specialty materials

• Cu-Ni Alloy (Monel, cupro-nickel) and Torlon.

Makerspace Roundtable Discussion

Here is a roundtable discussion on the makerspace movement.  I talked too much but I was excited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGM7ZfqPlHQ

Maker movement

Design by building

It would be foolish to design without a plan – sometimes.  It would be foolish to design without engineering analysis – sometimes.

However, sometimes we should design by building.  Conjure general ideas in our mind and start building, making mistakes, fixing the mistakes and moving steadfastly forward.  While many projects can never be done this way, especially civil engineering projects and complex mechanical and chemical schemes, there are times when designing by building lets us create in a very natural way.  It can lead to marvelous designs as shown with this scratch built loom.  It evolved one piece at a time, with gears made with a scroll saw and additions to the mechanism as needed.

Avoid designing large structures by building...