Week 7: Textile as scaffold

(07/11/2017)

Assignment of the week: Each student can use a different technique to make a prototype of a technical textile application You need to make ¨coupons¨, samples of your composite with standard dimensions : 13x17cm minumum max 40x40cm.

This experiment was performed in order to provide the students with practical knowledge on the techniques of using textile as a mold for building up different shapes in concrete structured. The results produced in this experiment are showed below.

In order to reproduce this experiment you would do not require much; A simple piece of textile to fill up with concrete mixture and some knowledge on cement. Specifically on mixing part that may require proper mixer depending on the scale of production. This experiment was performed with a small mixer.to achieve the wanted cement viscosity.

For this experiment we had to on using 360 Fusion a mold of a shape for the textile to be fixed on.

After the design was finished the 360 Fusion software allows you to simulate the carving technique required with selected tools setting from the CNC mili machine. This step is extremely useful because it generates and exposes the errors before th actual production in order to prevent accidents or waste of material. It also helps with the planning since it gives the full time that the machine will require to make the carvings.

Once designed with 360 Fusion and cut by the CNC mili machine we have as final product a mold, that wil give the shape to your textile scaffold.

For this technique of molding, a combination to 3 different textile cloths was used. The textile was cut in small pieces and placed one on top of the other, randomized, to cover completely the mold surface. After each layer a good layer of resin covers all without allowing bubbles fo form between textile and mold. This step required some more material, like the resin and spray to prevent textile to gluing of textile on mold. The chemicals used were:

After the tree layers of textile were applied the mold should rest for at least 30 minutes an hour to dry.

In this experiment I tried to combine the Grasshopper techniques learned from previous week assignment and created a patter of wood cuts to be used as scaffold for a back protector.

Afterwards the files were taken to laser cutter and following specific settings depending on material (textile or 3mm wood plate)

… and remember, before start working… SAFETY FIRST!

We Recommend use of cloves and a mask to protect you and maybe an overall to protect you clothes from resin or cement dripping.