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| Face to Face |
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| Open for Inspection |
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| One half slide down into the other |
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| Tails into Slots |
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| Snug Together |
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| All Stood Up |
I realize this steep angle is a rare occurrence in projects. Knowing this joint is possible and how to cut it though keeps it on my menu of options when designing furniture and accessories.
Comments are encouraged.
4D
Design Process.
While I sketch (pencil on paper) out design ideas it is often an accidental elbow bump or mental distraction that results in an accidental line. That line sometimes leads to the freshest details or at least a new iterative path to pursue. This is the magic blessing that comes from sketching on paper. It is a feature I miss having when drawing out ideas on the computer using any CAD program. I remember a conversation with a former head of the Architecture Department at KSU where he shared a similar respect for the accidental line. On a page full of quickly drawn iterative sketches an imperfect arc or misplaced line stands out. It is the attention it draws to stand out that hints at the potentially unique creation.
I believe many of the new and inventive original ideas are the product of pursuing an unexpected inspiration or accidental line. That old solutions survive for so long without improvement doesn't mean they are good, It means no one has stumbled across a simple but vastly better alternative. My patented inverting TV tray table design was the outcome from an accidental sketch line. TV Tray Table
So sketch, Sketch a lot. Don't trust using a mouse with a PC app to leave an accidental line. I concede that there are tablet apps that you can sketch on with a stylus or your finger, and some come close to mimicking what is possible with pencil on paper. Don't get distracted with the color options and line width options and so on as they steal attention away. There is grace in a simple session between your hand and a piece of paper via a simple pencil. Shy away from mechanical pencils with skinny leads. The relatively fat lead in a wood pencil that you have to sharpen is where line width and shading and random marks live. I know there are tools in most drawing programs for effective iteration. I have yet to see any app that occasionally puts a line somewhere you didn't intend or expect it to be then lets you start a new iterating branch of sketches inspired by that accidental line.
Sketch pads (the paper kind) come with blank pages to sketch on. There are also pads of graph paper with a light grid you can use to maintain relative scale of your sketches on. I prefer the latter. On a blank white page a beautiful sketch of something you want to make may prove less appealing when adjusted to fit actual final dimensions. I often start my sketches with a light rectangle or perspective cube drawn to desired scale on the grid. Then I know what I sketch within will remain constrained to the desired final proportions.
4D
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| Identical halves |
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| Slide together |
This isn't a common problem as experience fabricators know how to orient wood grain to reduce conflicts on assembled wood furniture. In fact it was only one past student of mine who's design could have benefited from this idea. That was more than 2 years ago before I retired. I post it here to rid it from my creative mind.
4D
Plant Stands (Workshop 2) or
Stools (Workshop 3).
Two Weeks to complete.
No drawings need to be submitted.
Any number of floor contact points other than 4 are allowed.
Plant stands must hold at least one potted plant at least 6 inches above the support surface (table or floor).
At the beginning of a semester class, when students haven't yet decided what they want to make or at least aren't ready with drawings or dimensions, these quick projects get their creative juices flowing, keeping them active in the workshop rather than sitting at their studio desk staring at their computers. Their semester project development can develop outside of class time, with a quick review each class day with the professor, one at a time for 10 minutes each while others continue working on their plant stand or stool.
This is NOT recommended for their first workshop class given that students aren't yet familiar with where tools and materials are to use or how to use the power tools safely. A great project to teach them the tools, joinery, production sequence, etc., is this Joinery Box project.
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| Projects from One Class |
The stool project has a higher expectation given that their design must support the dynamic weight of humans. This is where a one-point (shallow dome) base or a two-point (rocker) design makes sense.
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| Students enjoy this project! |
End the two week project with a photo session. Have workshop 2 students bring in plants to adorn their stand designs with.
I was asked one semester if a 3D printed plant stand was allowed. My answer was yes, but only if it consists of at least 4 parts that need to be assembled after they are printed.
This project turned the first two weeks of what had been a slow starting semester into a busy shop and enjoyable project making time. The biggest challenge was getting the students to work on their semester project designs during that first two weeks. Project drawings for that project should be submitted the first day of the 3rd week. Materials should be on their way.
4D
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| Tipped to the Right. |
Not for momentary joy or by a design mistake. With a way to keep the lamp leaning over at least a few obvious benefits become available. Park the lamp on a corner of a table, then let it tip toward the middle to better illuminate the table surface. Have kids that like to play on the floor? Tip the lamp out to better illuminate the floor beside the table. Using one or more 1"d steel balls and a rim of dished pockets you can move the Center Of Gravity around so the lamp will stay leaned in the direction the ball(s) are positioned at. Maximum lean angle is 12.5 degrees.
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| Maximum Lean |
This design consists of three wood parts. A hub that the light hardware connects to. A simple center post. Lastly a domed base. Simple. Three parts. The lamp can tip but won't fall over. The base is a larger mimic of the top hub. The power cord runs up through the center post which is done in two halves. It exits the side of the base which is also cut in top and bottom halves. The 1" steel balls were ordered from the jungle store, along with the 12mm threaded brass balls. I used two halves each for the post and base to make it easy to route the power cable through. Base is 2.25" thick and the center post large diameter is 1.5".
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| Almost Straight Up |
A 12mm diameter brass ball screws down onto the harp. The shade ring with a 3/8" diameter hole rests on it and stays level no matter how far the lamp tips.
I used the modelling tools in Aspire to make the pockets for the 1" steel ball on the curved surface of the base top. The moulding toolpath was used to shape all the other parts. Nine pockets evenly spaced around the perimeter allow just 3 steel balls to vary how far and in which direction the lamp tips.
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| Undecided |
This project, as many do, threw a few challenges to me when making the parts. 2-sided CNC projects must be perfectly aligned when flipped over. Even when I think I have that challenge solved it is worth verifying alignment before each new cut.
First try making the bottom of the base proved my design theory was wrong. The curve was so flat the weight of the base itself was so heavy it wouldn't tip even with the steel balls all on one side.
Second try I recut the bottom dome using 1/2 the previous radius. It still was harder to rock the base than I want it to be. Adding the light hardware, bulb, and shade might have made a difference so I added them to check. Testing proved the weight of the light hardware and shade weren't enough to make a difference.
I had a cherry block that was large enough and thick enough to make a new base bottom. 1+5/16" thick. Third try did indeed tip with the steel balls rather easily. A bottom dome with close to a 6" radius center works well.
This concludes my chase to see if this crazy idea works. I'll throw some maple stain and a top finish on the parts next time I have my finish table set up.
Comments welcomed and appreciated.
4D
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| White Oak and Red Zebra Wood |
In the first iteration I found my strategy for making a clean hub for the legs and light hardware to be flawed. That left a couple of dings in the edge of the walnut hub. Not critical to the function of the light, but visible scars showing none the less. To verify that I could make one with no machine made flaws of course I had to make another. 
Standing in the dark.
The hub is made from white oak. I had a long narrow length of white oak glued up from two strips. 1.25" x 1.25" square and 21" long. I cut it into 4 sections each 5" long, then glued them together side by side to make a block 5" x 5" x 1.25" thick. The new hub was cut from that block. No flaws. First step was to drill a 1/4" hole through the center. The block was then impaled on a 1/4" dowel pin. That allowed easy alignment when it was flipped over to cut the back side. Three sockets were pocket cut for the legs. The center hole was drilled out larger, then tapped for the light hardware post. All machining processes done and successful.
Legs were still needed, so a trip to my garage to find material for the legs brought back some red zebra wood strips, and an unknown strip of wood similar in color to make legs from. There was not quite enough to make three legs from the red zebra wood, so an ancient strip of what may be either Honduras mahogany or rose wood was added to the composition of one leg.
The back leg was done in two halves. A slot for the power cord to run through was cut on the inside face of each half. Next came cutting notched tenons on the top of the leg dowels. 
Power Cord Through One Leg
The notched tenons allowed easy orientation of the legs to cut the bottom end so they would be flat on the floor. Once cut all that was left was to sand the legs smooth and apply some finish, then assemble the light.
This is likely the last of this design. It has spurred variations that may show up should I pursue them. A fun, quick project to make requiring a small amount of wood and a few tricks that made the parts easy to make accurately.
Comments encouraged!
4D
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| Table Lamp. Walnut |
Everything I make starts with a drawing. Sometimes a sketch on a notepad. Sometimes a digital drawing on my PC. For this lamp an Initial drawing in my CNC software started the process. My first iteration was unsatisfactory. My second try looked better. Then I added the shape of the shade in the drawing to see the whole composition. Once the shade shape was added and the leg angle adjusted to match the slope on the shade it became time to finalize the details.
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| Top Hub |
Making the top hub took a 2-sided CNC job and some contemplation on how to hold the part down to be cut. The bottom beveled side cut first didn't cut through as intended. The top side curve also didn't cut through. Then I bolted the part down through the center as I knew the final perimeter beveled edge would cut through. The mistake I made was not cutting away the outer waste before starting that final cut. On the last pass before breaking out the waste came loose and caused interference with the spinning bit path. There are two flaws now left on the edge. When I make another one I know better now how to prevent that from happening. First attempt at any challenging part cut always has potential to show where the setup for it could be improved. That was the case with this part. I initially thought this could be done on my radial axis. Holding it so it wouldn't spin was the challenge I couldn't resolve. One side would have been easy. It is the second side that is always the challenge. This is my first prototype. There will be another lamp, version 2.
I used walnut for the dowel legs. I found scraps I could make 3 legs from. One leg was made from two halves, so that a slot for the cable can run through it.
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| Cable Slots |
I had to round over the two legs halves before screwing them together with the cable in place. Cutting the notched tenon on the end was simple using my fixture on my CNC bed. I put one wood screw through to hold the bottom end together, and I know that when slipped into the mortise the top end will stay together. This allowed me to cut the notched tenon on the top without dealing with the cable.
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| Screw holds the bottom end together. |
Hardware for table lamps is easy to find and relatively inexpensive. There are usually two ways to mount a shade. One is to screw it onto a harp that surrounds the bulb and provide a place to mount the shade. The second is to clip onto the bulb. Clip-on hardware is available to work with shades that expect a harp to mount to. A cord with a plug on the end and a socket for the bulb is included. The socket has a 3-way switch, although kits can be found with a simpler on/off switch, a pull chain switch, or no switch at all. The shades did come with a clip on option and the option to not use it.
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| Light On. Dome top of hub bounces light out into the room. |
I bought some antique looking bulbs that look good enough to stand without a shade over them. I also have a few incandescent bulbs that won't mind hiding behind a shade and would likely emit more light. Where the lamp lives may be the deciding factor. The Scenario of Use factor.
Comments encouraged and welcomed.
4D
