Da Vinci Accordion Project

Industrial Design Fundamentals Assignment:
1. Design a wooden toy inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci.
2. Make a model of your toy.

Visual Reference Board:
Bellow Prototypes:
I found this site useful in coming up with my method for building the bellows.
Here are my first bellow prototypes. For these ones I used an x-acto to cut out the trapezoids from poster board and masking tape and fishing line to connect them together.I switch to a thicker chipboard for the final set of bellows:


Cutting fabric to cover the bellows:
Glueing the fabric on the bellows was the longest part of the process and was the most frustrating and sticky. I used a whole bottle of Elmer's glue so it ended up being really strong.

Here is a video showing the bellow action. I was kind of disappointed because the bellows ended up stretching less and less with each layer of fabric.

One bellow finished:
Chipboard mockup of body:
Two bellows done:
I cut a bunch of plywood to the profile of my keyboard and glued them together to make a mold:
Then I laminated 3 pieces of thin veneer together and stuck them in the the vacuum bag on top of my mold. I will use this to cut out my keys.
The wood for my keyboard didn't quite take the full contour of the mold so I had to adjusted the end piece of the keyboard casing to match the new key profile.
Here I've put together the keyboard and bass button casings and I have the bellows and unfinished keyboard resting in place. The edges of the casing are burnt because I cut out the wood on the laser cutter. On the keyboard I've masked off where I need to cut the wholes for the black keys. I've also got my unfinished sound ports resting on top.
I sanded off the burned edges and gave the casings a rich bombay mahogany stain. I finished it off with two coats of high gloss polyurithane.The white keys stay their natural color and only need 2 coats of high gloss polyurithane finish.
I modeled the sound ports out of a non-hardening wax-based modeling clay called plastaline. Then I spray painted them gold.
This photo depicts a cross section of the keyboard action. I used fabric for the hinge and red foam to spring the depressed keys back. The dark keys are stationary for this model.

Design Thought Model Part II

See all Design Thought Model Posts

I continued work on my design thought model this weekend. I ordered some thiner 1/16" acrylic sheets that seemed to work better than the 1/8" stuff I was using before. While I was working on this project I realized that I probably could have done the entire thing so much easier on the vacuform. Oh well, good thing to keep in mind for next time. Instead of using the vacuform I have been cutting the plexi into small rectangles, heating them to 325 in the oven, and forming them to the mold with my hands. After I cover the entire mold in overlapping rectangles, I use the bandsaw to cut off the areas that overlap. This takes a long time and there are a few gaps where the pieces come together. I decided to just incorporate the gaps into my design and instead of gluing the pieces of plexi directly together, they will be connected with laser cut plexi brackets that I will paint to look like aged brass. That should also help with the mechanical steampunk look I'm going for.


I've also changed my original design that used marbles to represent ideas to use Sour Balls instead because every one likes candy and I found them at the convenience store near my dorm. They Sour Balls roll very nicely down the little test track that I build and I like that they are bright colors. I'm going to have to remember to bring a few packs with me when I present this because I've already eated about half of them.

On a final note, I ordered my steam engine kit that will power the rotating disk the releases the Sour Balls. I got it off ebay for $23 from Liney Machine. It includes the plans and all the stock metal needed to machine it out. The engine is very tiny. I chose it because it was cheap and I wanted a kit that would allow me to learn to machine metal on the metal lathe and mill. I'm really excited and I cant wait to try to build it.

Design Thought Model

Concept:
The concept for the design thought model that I have to make for my design thinking class starts with a full scale model of my head, chest, and one arm made from clear acrylic. Inside the head where my brain would normally go will be a hopper full of marbles that represents ideas. A rotating disk powered by a steam engine will release the marbles at set intervals. The marbles will then roll down a twisting track where they will be processed, cleaned and filtered. The best marbles will eventually roll out of my hand and onto a piece of paper to form a design.

Style:
My style influences for this project are steampunk, nautilus, victorian, and clockwork. The materials will include acrylic, brass, velvet and dark stained wood.

Building:
I started by making plaster molds of my head, chest and arm.
I have my brother cover my skin in plaster infused bandages.
We make a big mess and eventually get kicked outside.After about 12 minuets I can take off the now solid bandages
I use more plater bandages to fit the front and the back of the head together. Then I poor plaster of paris in the hollow shell of my head to give it strength. I now have a solid 10lb plaster head which I can use to form the acrylic.
I put the acrylic sheet(plexiglass) in the oven at 300 degrees until I can easily bend it.I then wear sox over my hands and press it against my plaster head. Here are some of the test pieces I made. I painted two of them so I could experiment will how I was going to get an aged brass look for the inside supports.