Final Product - 'Day Dream'

My lovely assistant modelling my 'Fun Glasses'. I am reallly pleased with this final outcome of my project. I especially like the way the flowers seem to be floating around the head, its like a 'day dream'. The flowers introduce various colours and add a different dimension.

What went well?
I found lazer cutting the flowers easier than the glasses. The flowers were done straight in to Corel and I simply selected '3mm felt' on the material option, this step was very straight forward. Once the file was converted (this took the most time) in to Corel the frames of the glasses were cut out fine - no problem!

What didn't go well?
I found it difficult to get used to the programe, Pro Engineer and I still feel I need more practice but the basics are there. My first attempt at the frame, as you can see in earlier bloggs, was terrible! I tried to get everything on one sketch - which would not work as it was too large and complicated. Once shown how to do the different layers I felt much more comfortable and I was able to play around with dimensions. Over all the assembly of my product went well. I used Dichloromethane (with gloves and goggles) to attach the circles and washers ,which the flowers are sandwiched between. This product could be interchangable if the washers were slightly tighter. One of the arms was slightly tight so I used a needle file to remove some excess. Many Thanks to my model!

Assembly

My Design in Acrylic - Here is my design cut out using the lazer cutter in 3mm acrylic. All the cross overs are correct and I am extremly pleased with the end result. I also cut out some clear circles with some clear 'washers' to attach the flowers on after.

Final CAD CAM Design

Below is the complete template ready for the lazer cutter. It will be made out out of clear acrylic.

Below are the arms of my fun glasses. They have been designed to be simple so the focus is upon the front of the glasses. The arms will hinge.

Paper Template.

My flat mate kindly offered to model the glasses for me.
These are just a quick paper model to demonstrate how the glasses will sit on and around the face. I am going to attach the fabric flowers you saw on one of my earlier posts. The glasses will be cut out of clear 3mm acrylic. The flowers will appear to be floating around the head.

Lazer Cutting Fabric - I loved it!

I designed some flowers straight on to Corel Draw and cut them out in various colours to go on the front of my glasses - I hope to attach them using some sort of washer cut out of acrylic...For these to really stand out and appear to be floating I am going to use a clear acrylic...

Screen Grabbing my First Trials

First Attempt!

This got a little bit confusing, I tried to create my glasses on one sketch - not good! it was far too large to cope with anything and became extremly slow (dont do this!)

Simple designs for the arms, the front frames are rather busy and large, this is where I would like my focus to be...

I found I was lacking inspiration and decided to do some more reserach in to other fun glasses- there are millions!!!! I found it too hard to choose! but here are a selected few, all for different reasons...I loved the height of some of these products how parts were raised off the face, this is certainly an element that I would like to bring to my piece. The bottom pictures seem to be made out of one template, these are simple design that have alot of character. They can be made (folded up) by the consumer and worn. For my final version I have decided to make a permanent fixing at the arms as I do not want to over complicate my drawings as I still need more practice. My next step is to produce a hinge in card to see what it would look like...

Initial Sketches, Fun Glasses

Fun Glasses, here are some initial sketches exploring the various possibilities that I could make. Next step is to try them out in card properly then lazer cut some out to test the hinge. I would like to add other features in a different media to make it more interesting...

Workshops

Firth Park Placement 1

Firth Park...fantastic!

I absolutely love it!

A little bit daunting being placed at a school that you only hear negative things about, however...never judge a book by its cover, although a difficult school the atmosphere is great, the technology team seem very intune with one-another and there is a generally a good atmosphere. Olly Lewis (a previous Hallam student on the PGCE) is currently developing a STEM project, a formular 1 rally car for the kids to design and make and eventually test drive-how fantastic! the kids love it!

The pupils seem to lack confidence and self esteem in many areas, and I do feel this is perhaps why their behaviour is particularly poor, maybe with more positive feedback and encouragement this will improve??? Classes were quite a challenge last week, often found myself stepping in to teach simple drawing techniques to the year 7's who were once again simply lacking confidence in their abilities. Hope everyone has a fantastic placement! Good Luck!