My First "Job"


Some architect/artists I know came to a Laser Night event and wanted to know if it was possible to zap a hub for a decorative space frame they were designing. A lot of iterations later (and no, acrylic is not a suitable material) there the pieces are. I charged them $10 a sheet for cutting plus I get to keep the offcuts :wink:

The 13-year-old did most of the design work (there’s a snap-together setup for the side pieces) and I gotta say delrin is a really amazing material to work with. You can break it if you really insist, but 1/8" is about 10x overbuild for what they’re doing.

It’s almost as if we had a makerspace.

11 Likes

I have looked at this and looked at this and still I got nuttin’.
Imagination is the first thing to go I reckon.
What does a zapped hub look like when no one is watching?

6 Likes

image

image
Either this or some married couple where the husband succumbs to a death ray in outer space.

But delrin offcuts: very useful.

7 Likes

I’m a big advocate of Delrin for the right needs.

1 Like

I don’t want to show the design in detail before the installation is opened (which is in a month or so). Basically a space frame is a lattice of interconnected trusses, with a bunch of beams/joists/columns (depending on your orientation) and hubs where the long skinny pieces meet. When they work, space frames are much lighter and stronger than equivalent conventional construction. When they don’t work, they’re really spectacular in a different way.

4 Likes

Oh, and one other thing: anybody have an idea of what to do with several hundred delrin cylinders about 1/8x1/8" :slight_smile:

ammo for some type of air gun?

Eek.

Btw, if anyone is in southern Vermont in about a month, the piece will be at a show in Bennington. Don’t know the details yet.

2 Likes

Update at last:

Bennington Museum, 75 Main St Bennington, www.benningtonmuseum.org

Through the end of december. I look forward to finding out how it came out…