Tutorial + Reflection

Tutorial




This tutorial will provide a method for shrinking aluminium sheet into a sculpture form.





Facts about aluminium:

- A range of sheets size
- Lightweight
- Electrical and Thermal Conductivity
- Recyclable 







Laser cut
























Laser cut machine can provide a high quality and precise cutting technique, the machine can cut on a variety of materials such as plywood, acrylic, and metal.... Simply open the document that you want to print on the computer software and select the material that you are going to print on and click start, the machine will then run itself.


Set up

  X 2   

X 4

After laser cutting the artwork on the plywood panels, place an aluminium sheet between the two boards and screw them together on each of the corners on the plywood.


Simple tools and equipment

 

The above images refer to the two main tools that are used in this task, they are the Flat Ends mallet (on the Left) and the Radius Ends mallet (on the Right).



Create a water drop shape in a smooth skin




         

Steps of hand shrinking a water drop shape on a aluminium sheet:

1. Place a radius ends mallet on top of the aluminium sheet
2. Hammer the radius mallet by using a flat ends mallet
3. Keep hammering until the form appears

Tips: Find a mallet/ tool that has a similar shape to the piece of work that you want to shrink

This method can avoid leaving marks on the skin of the aluminium and help to smoothen the surface.

Detail surface

Steps to shrink the small area of this model:

1. Create a sharp and tiny wooden stick that can fit on the top of the water drop shape
2. Adjust the stick at different angles to fit with the model
3. Hammer the aluminium with the stick 

Using a small steel hammer can simply shrink the small angle, however, marks will be created.


Final piece














Reflection

This course has given me an unexpected experience, I never thought I would know the skills of shrinking an aluminium sheet into an art piece that can be used in the interior. This course has also encouraged me to think outside the box, taught me how to create an interior fixture by shrinking an aluminium sheet. It is a really interesting course!


  Architecture in water drop form 

  A water drop exterior sculpture 

  My aluminium water drop art piece

 Water drop interior decorations

 Water drop lights for interior

A range of architecture to interior fixture to emphasise the water drop shape.

The Ferrari 250 gto.

The initial steps of this task were to scale down the Ferrari in a software called '123D' and to laser cut the layers of the model for assemble. Few issues that me and my group faced while laser cutting were that the plywood sheets were not placed properly under the laser cutter and they were not cut through in the machine. In return, our group took longer than usual to get all the panels cut.


                             

Meanwhile, it bacame difficult to assemble the model when more plywood panels were put together, creating friction among layers. To fit all the pieces of plywood in shape, my groupmates and I used a flat end mallet to push all the layers down.

Similar to pervious tasks, we divided the model into parts, put the masking tape on the model, then cut the aluminium sheets into different specific shapes for hammer.

Things to be improved:
1. Do a laser cut test to check whether the plywood pieces is too close to each other to avoid spending extra time to assemble.
2. Make sure the width of each gap in the panels is wide enough to assemble.


                                  

For the first 30 mintues to an hour I was struggling to hammer the shape of the part that I was involved in. I began to hammer from the rear which was positioned in the center area of my piece of aluminium sheet. However, the top side sat apart from the model when the bottom part fit perfectly, creating a 5cm gap between the aluminium sheet and the model as shown in the above left image. 

To fix this, I tried to hammer the window area (top part of the aluminium) to push it inward. Yet, the shape of the rear and the front part became flatten, resulting a bulky aluminium shape. 



                       

By hammering the side of the model on the edge of the desk, it helps to form a line to indicate the door of the Ferrari. While for the rear, I hammered the aluminium on a curve edged plywood to create a round shape.

Things to be improved:
1. Hammer the aluminium sheet with a wooden stick to advoid less damage on the surface.
2. Divide the piece into two separate parts to make it easier to hammer.



                  
Images of the polished Ferrari model.