June 30, 2010

Bubble Project prototype

All the hard work has finally paid off. The prototypes are complete! Though I've yet to see them in person, I'm thrilled at the fact that we've actually pulled it off. It wasn't an easy process. We decided, in order to save on fabrication costs, that we would build/sculpt the form onto which the bubble tiles would be vacuum formed, rather than using a CNC router.


First we made the form entirely out of plaster. In order to get the smooth, round forms we made plaster molds of rubber play balls of various sizes and cast them in plaster.

Then we sliced the solid plaster form in to 48 1/2" pieces on the bandsaw, traced each onto MDF board, and cut them out.



Once lined up and glued together, we began the tedious sanding process.



So, we left this MDF "tool" with the fabricators at MultiPlastics, and just a week or so later, these babies were ready for pick-up......


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