Tensegrity Structure - Water Themed

Summary Section: 

This is a one of a kind tensegrity structure, that can make any space more interesting, and have your guests marveling about how it’s standing up. This simple 15cm x 15cm x 15cm structure utilizes essential laws of physics, to appear at first glance as though it's defying those very rules.

This was a team project created in part by __. 

Constraints:

• Design MUST take advantage of print orientation to create the strongest structure possible.
• Each piece should fit inside of a 15cm x 15cm square.
• When constructed, the final structure should fit in a 20cm x 20cm x 20ish cm cube.
• No single dimension can be smaller than 0.25cm
• All “plates” MUST have a thickness between 0.75cm and 1.00cm
• All “beams” should have a thickness of 1.00cm
• Parts MUST begin with a constraint box, (center-rectangle CENTERED ON the origin)
• Dimensions should be detailed but efficient.
• Sketches should be fully defined when complete.
• Parts MUST contain zero error messages.
• Structures MUST be assembled virtually before 3D Printing to ensure successful models.
• Screw hooks and fishing lines will be provided for attaching your pieces.
• Engravings should be cut to a depth of 0.07cm

Assembly/Construction Instructions Section: 

• To assemble the structure, insert the middle droplet pieces into the slots through the middle of the top and bottom layers. Sand peg and hole as needed in order to get a smooth fit.

• Thread a string through the holes in the middle pieces and tie it off at the ends. If excess material is blocking the holes, insert a screwdriver through the hole, tapping gently with a hammer as needed until it's clear.

• Connect strings through the holes from the top piece and the bottom pieces, tying them off at the end. 
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Design Choices: 

• Top: 
  • First, we made a circle with a diameter of 10 cm
  • Then we extruded to a width of 1cm 
  • To texture the top we used the freeform tool to create multiple droplet-like bumps, that will appear to hang downward once the piece is flipped over.

• Bottom:
  • Continuing the water theme, we use the spline tool to create a rough outline of a puddle shape then we:
  • Made a line that extends 1cm up from the center
  • Used the spline tool again to make a ripple effect 

• Used the revolve feature to turn it into a 3d shape that sits on top of your puddle shape
• Swapped our view to the bottom so we could see the 3d shape behind the puddle outline
• Extrude cut any part of the 3d shape that goes outside of the outline
• Fileted the top edge so the ripple looks more natural
• Middle:
  • To connect the base and top we designed pegs that would have a cartoon water droplet shape and a Ying-Yang appearance once put together. We did this by:
  • Making a 1.5cm by 2cm square
  • Using the spline tool to make a droplet-shaped loop that starts and ends on the corners of the square.
  • Offsetting the loop inwards about .5cm 
  • Extruding everything 1 cm

What changed:

The original design we chose and created worked out pretty well. The big issue we had was connecting the strings to the top and bottom, originally we used hooks that you had to screw in, however this process proved very inconsistent and troublesome. We then chose to replace the hooks with holes, meaning the strings would go through the platform and be tied off on the other side, these holes were 0.08cm thick. This did not work, for the holes were not prominent enough and ended up collapsing in on themselves when printing. We adjusted the diameter to 0.2cm which works much better. The only other change we made was slightly tweaking the shape of the middle pieces, so visually they would complement each other more nicely. We accentuated the outer and inner cures so the final result leaned further out than the original.

 (Before and after)