Composites

Composites posts...

• Hessian/ burlap/ crocus composites  |  2017 Jun 28 |  2 minute read

To make the composite surface, I will combine hessian with a two-part resin which takes about thirty minutes to set and five hours to cure. This job is messy business and I did not have gloves or time to get gloves. That was a bad idea, first, not many photos. Second, the resin gets very hot in just a few minutes, trial by fire. Finally, it is nearly impossible to get off your hands. After countless soapings, I resorted to scrubbing my hands with coarse hair brush/ soap combo and then wearing (different) gloves for the next few hours because...


• Milling a composite mold  |  2017 May 12 |  8 minute read

I am preparing a mold of four parts: two outside halves and two inside halves. Then I plan to make a burlap plus resin composite surface around the two inner halves. Finally, I use the outer halves to compress the composite as it cures. I have yet to try milling multiple surfaces from one block of material. Well, until today. The inner halves each require milling on two sides of the material. I sized the molds to the constraints of our lab's Roland MDX-40A benchtop CNC machine. The XY maxes are 305mm according to the manual. Z max is dependant...


• Composites : Modular growth, testing  |  2017 May 09 |  2 minute read

Composite materials are made of two or more constituent materials, each with significantly different, yet complimentary, physical and or chemical characteristics. When combined into a composite, the team of materials is greater than the sum of its components. I started the project by mocking up a form in Autodesk Maya. The form is like bamboo in that it grows in sections and has openings to contain the moss. At this point, rather than spending much time modeling this object, I would like to jump into making composites becasue it is my first time. This is a little mockup of what...