How To make almost anything | 2018

How to Make teaches one fabrication technique every week. I’ve selected some of my favorites here.

If you want to see more on each project, go to my class website.

COMPOSITE Armadillo LAMP

I was planning on making a sort of “armadillo” inspired light. I really like the aesthetic of paper lanterns and lamps, but they are delicate. I felt like a stronger version of this sort of lamp would be a fun project for composites.

Casted House shaped-planter

I decided to make a planter in the shape of my house after seeing these pots in the shapes of houses. I used the shop bot to mill two different wax blocks and then combined them into one. The overhangs of the wall and door were difficult because milling is only a 2D operation.

Plywood Spherical Chair

I wanted to build something that was different from all of the shelves and tables that I saw for my something big. I decided to build the spherical chair because it was the one that had an interesting function and form. This project taught me my intuition about joints is not in line with physics. I made one design in which all of the joists attached at a single point. I made another design and made some test cuts -- it snapped immediately because the joints were too thin. The final version had thicker joists and thicker faces.