Q-BA-MAZE

YOU'RE INVITED: "Here by Design" Opening Party

Here by Design III: Process and Prototype

Opening Party
Friday, October 19
7-9 p.m. FREE
@ Goldstein Museum gallery
Minneapolis, MN

I'm honored to be part of this new exhibit, curated by James Boyd-Brent, Associate Professor of Graphic Design. The entire design process behind Q-BA-MAZE is on display -- inspiration, sketches, CAD drawings, rapid prototypes.  Visitors even get a chance to play with a multi-pack structure!  As part of the related symposium, I'll be sitting on a panel -- and a fellow panelist will be Vince James, one of my architecture instructors from the University of Minnesota.

"HbDIII will examine the ingenuity of Minnesota designers using digital fabrication for rapid prototyping innovative and sustainable design solutions. A related symposium will explore these issues in greater depth through panel discussions with the designers, tours to digital fabrication facilities, and a nationally-known keynote challenge speaker." Exhibit runs October 20, 2007 - January 20 2008

Watch for photos in the next few days...

2D/3D CAD DRAWING: Coordinated Precision

I do all of my CAD (computer-aided design) drawing in 3D with software called Microstation (Microstation is not typically used for product design, but it is the software I know from my years in architecture, so I have stuck with it). I do not need to draw 2D drawings, instead, the software automatically generates the many 2D drawings from a single 3D design. This saves a lot of time. It also means that every aspect of every drawing is perfectly coordinated, because it all refers back to the same single 3D object.

The drawing on the left is actually part of the submission to the US patent office. The software assisted me in making a very thorough submission of many variations of the Q-BA-MAZE concept.

The same 3D file that produced these drawings also produced the rapid prototypes. And when I was getting initial bids from injection molders in Canada, I was able to tell them the exact volume of the parts, again, by analyzing the same 3D design file.

The surface number 600 in fig 2B is the concave-up sphere, on which the cascading balls will pause while rocking back-and-forth. This sphere is placed in the same location in every type of Q-BA-MAZE cube. Only the exit configurations out of the cubes vary. The precise alignment of the top of the side joinery and the intersecton of the cube wall can be seen in fig. 2I. But without getting into every detail, I will summarize by saying that these drawings show that the cubes contain an abundance of detail and every one of those details impacts the next because there is almost no tolerance in these parts. The only option is that they fit perfectly. CAD software made this possible.

This is post #3 in a series on "The Making of Q-BA-MAZE"