Monday, February 11, 2008

16. Interaction with Audiences

Our presentation in the exhibition interest many audiences, both the kids and the adults. It was my best moments when people love the boat and asking some interesting questions.




15. Complete the Static Model

This is the 2nd stage Work-in-Process model showing in my home. I'd like to share it with audiences in the exhibition later on. My mom took the picture for me. Is it cool?

14. Painting

Painting, undercoating, and wafer-proof is a trial-error process.

I tried different types of material and learned that some material are too rough, and some other materials are not water resistance. I had to wear away those materials every time until I found a proper material.



13. Undercoating

To have a beautiful and smooth painting, an undercoating is required.



12. Water-proof Process

Water-proof is an important process before painting. All the surfaces, and also the connection edges and holes, have to be filled with water-proof materials.


11. Greasing

The boat requires further greasing and polishing before further coating and painting in the final assembly process.





10. Advisor

Mr. Huang is a master in model boat design. He gave me some important advices when I complete the first model.


9. Inspiration

The Work-in-Process model was showcased in the Exhibition. It inspired many childrens and their parents.

I talked to the audiences about my ideas of the design. There were a lot of questions from the audiences. It is so good to see people love my design.

8. Rudder

Rudder is also a critical part of the boat to control the direction. There is an inlet in the rudder to imbibe water through a rubber pipe to cooling the engine.



7. Molding the Prow

To mold the rigid wood plates into the original surface model is a cumbersome process.

We learned from the air conditioned environment in the exhibition that the wood plates are distorted when the humidity is different. The lesson helped me to solve the problem in molding different plates of the prow together to meet the original design.

6. Assemble the Hull

The hull was assembled with many plates. You'll see the interior design below. It considered the structure with strength/weigth ratio and the center of gravity for the position to mount the engine.




5. Inhale Mantle

A big water-cooling engine will be mounted in the hull. In order to provide enough clean air for the eighine to "breathe" and a aesthetic outline of the boat, an inhale housing was designed to cover the top of the engine.

A back side curved space is also reserved for a big exhaust pipe.






4. Handcraft the Feet

The feet is the only part of the boat that "touch" the water.

You'll see it is a "curved" surface, rather than a "flat" plate. It is a sceret how it can minimize the friction and maximize the strength. The aluminum tubes that connected with the body using a pair of carbonate fiber poles, not shown here, are the critical parts to withstand the force from the wave. It have to do further strength test to qualify this material.




3. Wood Plates, by Laser Cutter

The 3D Model was flattened to sheet metal models, and then these wood plates were precisely produced by a Laser Cut machine.

There are some "surfaces" in this 3D model. I have to flatten the surface model and convert it to an AutoCAD drawing in DXF format. Then the CAM software, Computer Aided Manufactuirng, can generate the tool path that guide the Laser Cut machine to cut the wood plates.

Fortunately, we got the best support from one of my classmates' father. He is an experienced designer of agriculture machinery and has a hareware factory with many machine centers. He help us to cut the wood plates into a precise model using a very large Laser Cut machine.


2. The Design

The Scambi Boat was designed with a 3D Solid Modeling Software by myself. I have to consider both engineering and aesthetic issues.

Theorically, this type of boat can "float" on water with a speed no less than 100KM per hour. So I have to consider how to minimize the friction with water, the structure of the boat with enough strength, balance and stability, the engine with proper horse power and the cooling requirement, and all the painting and water proof and aesthetic issues.

Below is a 3D solid model in wireframe views and shaded view. You may compare this computer model with the actual model in the previous post.


              

1. Scambi - A Speedy Boat

This Scambi Boat is a create by myself for an Artistic Education Exhibition held by Juming Museum in Jinsan, Taipei County from Aug. to Oct. 2007.

http://www.juming.org.tw

We, my brother Lin-Tse and me, were invited to participate in the exhibition to deliver the message of education diversity from the aspects of the artisitic education and home schooling education.

We approach this opprotunity with some of our models created in the last couple of years and photos that record our learning process.

This Scambi Boat is designed specifically for this exhibition. It took me about two months from design to implementation. The development process of this brainchild is also part of our presentation in the exhibition. I'd like to share with you the process in this blog. Hope you enjoy it!