General Processes - Working with Wood

General Processes:

Pre-Check

Make sure all parts given to you are 'square'. That means the edges are 90 degress to each other before you start marking out.

Marking Out (After you got your raw materials)
1) Mark out all parts with lines for sawing and trimming with a marking knife, mark the centres of curves (radius) and holes to be drilled with an 'x'. Mark out all the positions for screws and/nails nails.

Tips:

• If you have screws or nails in your joints, work out the correct length, type of head, and the diamter & depth of the pilot holes to drill. Also make sure that you do not screw or nail too close to the edge of the wood.

Drilling
2) Drill all the holes first.

Tips:

• If dowels are required, make sure you check that the diameter of the dowels matches the diameter of the drill bit. To check if the fit nicely, try it on a piece of waste wood.
• If you require a flat hole, use a Forstner Bit instead of a Drill Bit.
• If you require a large hole and not even the Forstner Bit can create it, consider using a Hole Saw instead.

Sawing
3) Trim (concave or convex) curves using Scroll Saw (if wood is thin) or Tenon saw (for straight cut). For external curves, the Circular Sanding Machine may be used.

Dry Assembly (to test if parts fit)
4) Dry fit all your parts, check that they are OK. If not ok, modify or re-do.

Tips:

• Don't join them with PVA and nails yet or screws yet!

Finishing (Part 1 of 2: Sanding Preparation)
5) Sand surfaces and edges smooth using Glass Paper (aka sand paper).

IMPORTANT:

• If you are joining edges, you MUST NOT sand the edges to be joined! It will not fit after that.

Tips:

• Round the edges for aesthetics. It usually works.

6) Join parts using PVA and and Panel Pins or Screws.

Note:

• When using screws no PVA glue is required. Because one of the reasons for using screws instead of nails is so that the parts can be taken apart later on.
• If you use nails (and PVA glue), then you are prepared for a permanent joint.

Finishing (Part 2 of 2: Spray Paint or Lacquer)
7) Finish as desired (spray paint or lacquer).

Tips:

• Always spray paint at least 300mm away from the object.
• Test spray in thin air before applying your coat. This procedure is used to get rid of blogged droplets.
• Lacquer on a clear sunny day instead of a rainy and humid day.
• Use spray lacquer to achieve even coat on surface.
• When using brush for lacquer, always ensure thin coat for every layer of coat.
• Allow coats (spray paint, spray lacquer or brush lacquer) to dry completely in cool and dry places before applying the next coat.
• Drying time varies with types of coats. Generally up to 2 hours is required to ensure surface is completely dry.
• Sanding is required for the first 3 coats of lacquer. But use very old and used glass paper.
• For really glossy surfaces, up to 10 coats of lacquer is needed.
• Use the drying time in between lacquer to update your journal or complete the other parts of your project.

Special Note:

• Sometimes it is necessary to join (step 6) first before sanding (step 5).
• Sometimes it is necessary to join all parts (step 6) before the applying the finishing coat (step 7).
• It all depends on the nature of the project.

If in doubt... alway ask.

How to draw Oblique to 1-Point Perspective & Isometric to 2-Point Perspective Drawing Made Easy

D&T Coursework Attendance for Week1 & 2 June 2011

Dear D&T students,

Your attendance is required on the above mentioned dates to catch up with your work.

I noticed there are some of you whose prototype is almost complete. Catch me ASAP and I will assess your work and decide if I can excuse you for the rest of the week. But you will work from home on the necessaries and I will take a look at your work the next day after your extra lessons in the morning.

Note: Please inform your parents about the requirement to be present for Week 2 too. Some of your parents claimed that they did not know about this.

Regards

Mr Daniel Lim

Idea Generation to Development Starter Kit

The list of items in the I&D kit is not exhaustive. Nevertheless it should give you enough pointers on what you should look out for and include in your idea generation and subsequently in the development stage of your project.

Do remember that tasteful choice of drawing techniques and variety of sketches and drawings communicates ideas best.

If you plan to show how something moves, then draw a series of movements in steps to illustrate them like a 'stop motion' show.

The idea generation phase can be liken as a playground stage where you toy around with ideas and possibilities, play with mock-up models, experiment and explore every opportunities you can find that is relevant to the project. Coming up with exciting concepts and proposals that is improved, different and innovative. Its about generating the best alternative options and making decisions on the details of your project when you arrive to the development phase.

Have fun. Do not hesitate to email me your questions if you have any.

An Alternative way to arrive at your Design Opportunities through Research

Research can be tough and confusing at times. But if you know how to ask the right questions, then research is not so tough after all and in fact very straight forward.

You can read more about research in my previous posts.

But here you will be guided with some research questioning techniques that will be helpful when you research on 1) a situation you have identified, and 2) existing products.

These questions should lead you to a better understanding of 1) your identified situation and the people involved, 2) the existing products, and 3) what you can propose to do next.

Created to Reach Out to You - mrdanielsos on Facebook - Meeting your Design Coursework Needs

Idea Generation Starter Kit - Introduction

An example of Idea Generation focusing only on FUNCTIONALITY.

Introduction
Finally we come to the idea generation stage of your design journey. You might have noticed the number and the variety of posts and topics that goes before the ideas generation stage. The reason for that is not a casual one - as understanding your design situation and establishing a genuine need is probably the most important step in the design process. Once you have established that firmly and you know you have identified a solid design opportunity, your design brief, considerations and specifications will come in naturally as a by-product of your hard work.

The rest of the journey may not be any simpler (it will continue to demand your effort for quality work), but you can be assured you will have a project that is worth spending the next few weeks and months working on and developing into a working prototype.

Idea Generation: Common (Grave) Mistakes

Mistake #1: Lack of process recording (that includes research recording)
One of the gravest mistake many students make at the idea generation stage is the lack of recording of the thinking and exploration process that is going on in their head all along. The examiner or the reader could not appreciate your struggle, he could not understand how an idea or concept is conceived. It may be a very good idea, but information on how you got there is missing. As a result, the student stand to loose credibility in his journal and sadly lost of marks in the section of 'research' and 'communication'.

Mistake #2: Sketching a complete drawing without illustrating the journey to get there
You will find examples of very complicated single drawings of a product with lots of features in it that seem to be too quick too soon as a first idea. What usually happened is this - the student could have pondered and worked out various issues on functionality and aesthetics, borrowed some ideas of traditional working examples and perhaps combined a few features here and there - and then proceed to sketch one, two or three (or ten) 'independent' proposals after some time. And you say 'I now have THREE (or TEN) ideas'. But few or in some cases non of them is a continuation of the other and the development process of 'one idea to another' is nowhere to be felt. How the idea or concept forms and develops from one to the other is not shown.

Mistake #3: Drawing the first (or the first few) ideas and think that is final.
Any one who has the experience of exploring ideas to achieve quality conclusion knows that the first few ideas hardly works. Of course there will be exceptions where the designer may go back to the first few ideas after exploration and development on the latter concepts - however that 'first' idea will still need to go through various rounds of refinement before it can be considered to be prototyped. Any idea or a concept (as a whole or singled out as individual parts to work on) will need to be further explored, taken apart and put back, modified, evolved, researched, investigated, modeled, tested, evaluated and improved before it will come alive as a solution.

Mistake #4: Stopping at a single view
There is no way a design proposal can be fully explored and refined relying on just one view/side of the proposed idea. At times only the side or front view is drawn and that one drawing is used for critique and evaluation of its effectiveness and functionality, etc. If that idea is found not ideal, it is usually immediately abandoned and another brand new often unrelated idea appears. (see mistake #3)

Mistake #5: Stuck and Brain Choked - no ideas.
This doesn't sound like a mistake, does it? But this is another very common problem for the majority of students. 'I have no idea' and 'I cannot think of any ideas', he or she would exclaim at the idea generation stage. This is a mistake of not understanding the pre-requisite of what comes before idea generation.

For every Problem there will be Solutions

Solution for Mistake #1
The design journal is a record of your thinking process. What you think is what you will record. It can be a question that you asked yourself in your head - write the question down, sketch the question if you may then go find the answers (and record them). It could be a sudden idea that struck you - draw your mental visual image from your mind on paper, write notes if you can't draw, then go refine and develop that idea further using a variety of drawing techniques.

Recording can be various forms through photographs, images, annotations, conclusions, etc - at no point in time should your design journey be treated like an answer script of answers and decisions. Recording through drawings should be done in as many perspectives and drawing techniques as possible (see image above)

Solution for Mistake #2 & #3
Focus on the broad concept at the beginning of the ideation stage. That could be exploration of a certain functional specifications - one at a time and then combining them later to evaluate the proposal as a whole. That will minimize the mistake of dwelling too much into unnecessary details that is not the time yet to be considering. For example: Why worry about the appearance of the product if you have not worked out how it it will do its job in an innovative way (or in a fun way, in a humorous way, in a cool way or whatever your focus is for that particular functional requirement)?

Many students wander too much into drawing a complete product in the first attempt and missed the important step of coming up with a great concept that is usually achieved at the initial stage of ideation where you play with broad ideas and propose various alternatives - all of which does not require detailed drawings that goes into styling and the bolts and nuts of the product. A chosen concept is then refined and developed, and that is where details starts coming in. When you do so, you will know you have arrived at the development stage of your design phase.

Solution for Mistake #4
Study the sample Idea Generation image above. I only have one objective. And that objective is to hold a piece of paper. The objective of holding a piece of paper is one of my functional specification. I also have a supplementary specification - that is I want to come out interesting alternatives to hold a piece of paper (note) that will make the storing of the paper fun and interactive. You may be interested to note that I have another requirement - the product must be made with only ONE piece of material...

Reminders on What to Note for "RESEARCH" + the usuals

Research has always been one of the weakest area in many students' works. As do establishing a genuine need or situation and design brief, the idea generation section and especially the product development stage. More about Idea Generation and Development in the coming posts. So watch out for them.

The good news is this area of weakness is not going to stay for long. All we need to have is a structure that helps us do what we want to do.

The above image contains the usuals, i.e. suggestions on how you can move on from Design Considerations & Constraints --> Design Specifications --> to Idea Generation. Within each stage is the ongoing emphasis on Research.

Always keep a look out for opportunities for research. Similar to design opportunities - design opportunities are everywhere - research opportunities are in abundance and they are everywhere in your journal!

The research opportunity is there whenever you make a claim or a statement. Usually students leave that claim or statement at status quo without exploring what goes before (i.e. what led you to that statement) or what it will lead to after making that claim.

You'll need to expand on that claim or statement. You can expand in 3 ways:

1) Identify and record what you already know about that claim or statement.

2) Identify and find what you do not know(yet) and do not have (yet).

3) Finding relationships that is directly or indirectly related to it.
- What is related to it?
- In what ways is it related to it?
- What else is similar to it?
- In what ways is it similar to it?
- Who is involved?
- Who else is involved?
- Who is related to it?
- Who else is related to it?

To record your findings, do it through photographs, images and annotations to your visuals, use charts or any other form of appropriate communication techniques to bridge your point to your readers.

Why Research? Hopefully by now, if you have been listening in my class or read my posts, you should be able to appreciate why (?) research.

Advanced Systematic Design (Pattern) Generation - Idea (Pattern) Generator - by Daniel Lim

This set of animation shows an advanced systematic design (pattern) generation. A variety of change is introduced to create even more pattern designs. The image below show some of the variations you can play with to modify and evolve your patterns.

The next image illustrates for you an example of how an ideation process to design a cup coaster using the Advanced Systematic Design (Pattern) Generation may look like:

The final image from this post below shows a suggested the ideation process up to development of a selected coaster design. Within it are detailed instructions and information on what should take note and include in your design journal.

For my earlier post on "Idea (Pattern) Generation using THREE CIRCLES" go to http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/01/idea-pattern-generation-using-three.html

For the next stage, Refinement of the Chosen pattern go to:
http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/07/simple-refinement-development-and.html

FAQ: Your email enquiry - my answer

Your Question:
'How do I know if my mind-map for the theme is sufficient? I have done part of it now I don't know what else to add'.

My Answer:
My two suggestion for you is as follows:
1) Make sure you understand the objective for doing anything (e.g. the objective for doing a mind-map for your design theme) before you start doing. Do you know yours?
2) Once you understand the objective for doing something, you will surely know (a) what to look out for (i.e. what research areas to focus on), (b) what it will lead you to do later, and (c) know when you have reached enough information and its time to stop.

Due to the nature of the theme, my mind-map for exploration of the theme 'Storage' is as follows:

1) Begin with the theme (in this case 'Storage') somewhere in the middle of the page. 'Storage' now is your BROAD CONCEPT. Now list out the DETAILS.
2) Branch out by listing the DETAILS, i.e. locations where 'Storage' can be found. (e.g. Home, School, etc).
3) Now each DETAIL (e.g. Home, School, etc.) in turn becomes a BROAD CONCEPT. Of which other details will branch out.
4) e.g. 'Home' now becomes a BROAD CONCEPT. Branch out DETAILS, i.e. the various parts of 'Home'. (e.g. Kitchen, Bedroom, etc.)
5) Take e.g. 'Kitchen' as a BROAD CONCEPT, it is now about time to list out a) items that requires storage, and b) existing storage solutions.
6) The next stage will be to complete your mind-map with relevant photographs and images of the examples you have listed at the end of your mind-map.

Following this internal link for an example of the steps shown above:
3NA Storage Innovation Research Starter SOS
http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/01/3na-storage-innovation-research-starter.html

Additional (Important) Information:
When you think you are done you ask yourself if you have done a good job exploring what 'Storage' is (and more challenging, what 'Storage' is not). If someone comes and looks at your mind-map without the title 'Storage' in the middle, will he be able to say,'Ah, I know this is an exploration on the various types of storages', or 'Oh, I didn't know that this can be considered as storages', or 'Oh I didn't know much about storages until I see your mind-map on it'. etc.

What is next?
Hopefully what you have done will enable you to identify one or more of the following design opportunities:

1) a problem area that requires a better solution than existing ones or for a problem that may not have an existing solution yet, and/or
2) an area of improvement to existing solutions, and/or
3) challenge yourself to an opportunity for creating an alternative solution. Come out with a different way or a different experience to do something.

Hope that helps.

Regards
mrdaniellim

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