Practical 3

Practical 3: Cardboard joinery

Hi everyone!! For practical 3, we were introduced to the different fundamental techniques and tools which are needed to build cardboard structures and mechanisms and various ways of how to join pieces of cardboard together. We were tasked to produce a visual board showing many different ways to join cardboard together. Here is an example:

Below are some pictures of us in progress of constructing the different ways of joining cardboard.

Here is us using a penknife and cutting the cardboard into even sections to create the structure of the flange.

This is one of our finished joinery which is known as the brass fasteners.

This is another joinery known as tabs.

We are removing the extra edge of the cardboard so that the tabs look more even.

Sticking some of the finished joinery to the visual board. The joinery on the left is the flange and the joinery on the right is the tabs.

SHEESH! Look at this elegant cutting technique!

Another of our finished joinery known as the insert.

Applying hot glue to the cardboard to stick it to our visual board. What a sticky situation we were in lol!

We were almost done with our visual board!!

BOOM! Our completed visual board! So beautiful right?

Our group photo with our visual board.

We had fun in this cardboard joinery session. However, along the way, we did face some problems as a group. 

One of the problems we had was slicing through the cardboard. It was difficult to cut through the cardboard in a straight line due to the toughness of the cardboard. It was also difficult to gauge the amount of force to apply when cutting the cardboard. For example, when trying to carve out the lines on the structure of the flange, there were instances where too much force was applied and the cardboard was cut through completely, so we had to restart the procedure of making the flange.

However, we manage to solve this problem by being more careful practising many rounds such that the lines are straight and not cut through the cardboard. This allows us to carry out the task more efficiently as well.

Sebastian Unicorn Joinery

In our practical 3 lesson on cardboard joinery, each of us were given a cardboard unicorn to make! 

And man was I excited to start making it!😆 I even gave a small scream of excitement in class! (Sorry for the disruption😪)

After going home and spending some time making it.... 

The final product looked like this!

But in the process of creating this majestic unicorn🦄 I observed the different types of joinery's used

Figure 1. 

Folds:

From the image above, we can see that one type of joinery used in the construction of the unicorn, is folds. Throughout the making of the unicorn, folds needed to be used to give curvature and a 3-dimensional effect to the unicorn, and make it look life-like

Figure 2.

Slot + Tab:

From figure 2, we can see that slots and tabs were used to join 2 separate pieces together. 

The ones circled in red are the slots and the ones circled in blue are the tabs. 

Figure 3.

Rubber band system:

First, I attached a hook to the wall opposite the wings, then I tied the wings together and attached rubber bands on both sides of  the wings. 

The rationale behind placing the hook where it is is so that the rubber bands elasticity will allow the wings to return back to its original position - If I want to pull back, something needs to pull it forward and hence that's what the yellow rubber band is for!

Video 1.

And here's how it looks like in action!

Automation:

Figure 4.

Mechanism

A stick could be wedged in the body of the unicorn, fixated with 2 cogs on its sides. 

A stick with a hinge could be attached to the cog

And on the body, slightly above the hinge, attach restraints to prevent the stick from falling off sideways.

At the point above the stick, a sturdy gusset could be attached to the wing. 

As the cog rotates clock-wise, due to the hinge and the restraints added the stick would only be allowed to move up and down.

The gusset acts a sturdy point where the stick is allowed to push the wings up and down, allowing a flapping motion to be achieved.

Practical 3: Cardboard Joinery 1

Name: Chong Shin Shing

Class: DCHE/FT/2A04

Date: 6/7/2021

 

 

Today, we are given a piece of cardboard, it contains different parts of shapes, we are given the instruction said that we need to assign these shapes to become a UNICORN. So basically we are given these different parts as shown as below:

 

 

First, we are given these parts, there are the head, horn, body, tail, and one pair of wings. The first time I saw this I was shocked, these different parts really can make a unicorn???

 

 

The biggest part looks like the body of the unicorn, without thinking twice, I choose to make the body of the unicorn first. I fold the parts that I can fold, connect the parts of the leg, the picture shown above is the result of the body that I made.

 

 

Th picture above shows the head of the unicorn, as you can see, I also put on the horn of the unicorn into the unicorn head part.

 

 

And next, I put the wings onto the body, seems like almost done!

 

 

And final! Put on the head and the tail! It is done!!!!! Actually, the joinery type that I used is slot and tab, for example, the tail. Now, last but not least, do you all know we actually can make this unicorn fly? I am not telling you a joke, if you still thinking I am doing so, you can watch the video below:

 

 

Haha, since you watch this video, now you are 100% trust me. Now I would like to tell you how am I do it.

 

 

So as you can see, the part inside the unicorn’s body, the slot of the wings, I use a rubber band to connect both slot of the wing. Then I make the unicorn stand, use the little finger to pull the rubber band softly. Then my wings start to move!

 

 

 

To automate this system, the wings are connected by a stick and try to make the hole bigger to pin the stick, add a  plate is added at the end of the stick, to prevent the stick overpulled and fell out. 

 

After that, the hole is being pinned to the body of the unicorn (cry, the stick is then connected to the hole, to make a handle. Moving the stick by holding the handle will make the wing of the unicorn to flap.

Jun Xiang unicorn joinery

Today for practical 3, everyone was tasked to construct a cute Unicorn using a cardboard template given to us!

I was extremely excited for this hands-on activity as it could be an additional piece of work for my display cabinet! I could even hear screams of excitement from my group member (Sebastian ahem).

Firstly, after laying out the different cardboard parts of the unicorn in front of me, I was contemplating on which part of the unicorn should I start to build. I eventually decided to start with the body first since it is the largest piece of cardboard I had in front of me. After some folding and slotting in of cardboard, the body of the unicorn looks like this in figure 1.

Figure 1: Body of unicorn

Speaking of folding and slotting in, I also noted the type of folds and joints that are used. Folds are used to create the shape of an object and also to give the object a nice curve and not show the walls of the cardboard. Slots and tabs were used to join the parts of the unicorn together and eliminate any protruding parts so it does not affect the overall image of the object.

Secondly I decided to start piecing the head of the unicorn together and this is how it looks in figure 2.

Figure 2: Head of unicorn

Thirdly, I joined both the head and the body of the unicorn together. And now it looks like a horse instead of a unicorn!

Figure 3: Unicorn which looks like a horse

But what is a unicorn without wings? So BOOM! I added in its wings as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Full construction of the unicorn

Hold on! It looks completed already. However, I decided to spice up the unicorn and make it more realistic by making the wings move! Here is a video of how it works.

So you may ask what is the magic behind this? Figure 5 and 6 shows how I made the wings move.

The rubber band is tied around the tag of both wings and due to its elasticity, it can be stretched and relaxed to pull the wings back and forth.Thus, making the wings move.

Figure 5: Rubber band tied to the tag of both wings

Figure 6: Sketch of how the rubber band idea works

Automating the system is also possible. The wings are controlled by a lever which is attached to the unicorn’s body. It can be turned to move the wings continuously until the lever stops moving.

Figure 7: Sketch of automated mechanism

Li Yin's Unicorn Joinery

A little activity that we got to do today is to build a cardboard unicorn and take note of the joinery used.

Because I did not want to make any mistakes or potentially lose the unicorn's tail (as Dr. Noel said), I followed the video on youtube and referred to it as i build my cardboard joinery.

As I was building the unicorn I was also observing the joinery utilized. I realized that the whole structure was mainly secured through Slot and tab joinery as well as bend. Here are some photos I took in the progress.

Figure 1: slot and tab.

Figure 2: Bend.

And here I have the finished product!

After the building part, we were also tasked individually with automating the movement of the wings, so that they would flap without the direct pushing and pulling of my fingers on the wing itself.

I noticed a groove on the end of both wings structure on the underside of the unicorn and had the idea to attach a rubber band on it connecting both wings together. This way, when I pulled the other end of the rubber band I would cause the wings to move through tension. By pulling and releasing the rubber band it would then translate to the flapping motion of the unicorn wings!!🐤🐥🐤

Here is a drawing illustrating the attachment position of the rubber band.