Week 8: Experiment on New Material

Our group has found out two main problems that Huang Ayi has met during her working experiences: the weight of the bucket and the size of tool room. For the first problem, we are creating a trailer that can be pulled on the floor. For the second one, we’re trying to visually make the room bigger. And I’m focused on designing for the second problem.

Inspired by an invention called wave lamp which is functioning as a lamp but the shape simulates sea waves. While normal wave lamps are usually structured vertically, I’m going to change a little bit based on the size of the room. When we were having the second meeting with Huang Ayi, we came into her room and sat at the chair she usually sits to observe the room from her perspective. We found that we can utilize the large space above for placing the wave lamp. In this case, I’m going to design a horizontal one by using strings to connect it to the roof. Also, I will include the use of reflective paper to create a reflective surface which gives people a feeling of real sea surface.

Initial design

Materials

Based on the materials I've collected, I decide to use thermal compressor and oven to reprocess them. Therefore, I began my research on the hardness and melting point of different plastics.

The graph above illustrates that PET is harder than HDPE. In this case, it needs longer time for compressing.

Experiment

Final Outcome