Work in progress (WIP)
The days at Hethel start with a conversation exploring questions, approaches, vocabulary, and plans of action. It transpires both artists and engineers have the concept and practice of WIP. In art it can be used to describe well work in progress obviously but can also mask the work we don’t want to finish, can’t finish or the work we never intended to finish. In engineering Derek was explaining WIP is viewed in terms of economical cost, as work in progress means labour, parts and space all being used up and the product hasn’t yet reached the customer. In engineering it seems important to be reducing WIP by reducing the number of operations (or procedures). Economies of scale come to mind, but not sure how that affects WIP or not.
The aim of today was to get a no pointed needle form that could be made longer or shorter to create a series of images/objects. Mirroring proved to be very problematic as identifying planes from objects with mirroring is something I think the software didn’t like. The point of the mirroring was as Derek pointed out to follow the way I had made the original video, by moving a needle in front of a mirror (plane) in a video camera. The first sets of drawings were abandoned due to mirror and plane issues so then we started again with much more success. It was interesting to discover that when they make clay models of car bodywork/shapes they make half up against a mirror – most cars are symmetrical (some notable exceptions the names of which i cant remember now). Symmetry works well in manufacturing – well is more cost efficient it seems.
Much excitement on my part as a series of no pointed needles were achieved and saved as STL files and sent to the RP machine. It was quite difficult to document the process as there is much movement in the machines but see images of work in progress. I was thinking as the machine was making the parts / objects that previously making had been a fully engaging physical process requiring constant attention and dexterity. Now we can set RP machines to produce while we do other things – it’s similar to rendering time in video, I image many a cup of tea has been made as video’s go through the render process.
We swapped more reading matter today, I have left Derek with 3 catalogues, Future Factories – the design work of Lionel Theodore Dean, by Paul Atkinson, Membranes and Edges by Michael Shaw and Gordon Burnett’s exploration of cultural issues through digitally crafted objects from a year in Australia. Each offer a different ‘art and design’ perspective on CAD/RP processes. In return I was offered (and accepted) TCT (Time Compression Technologies) magazine, a HAAS machinist’s CNC reference Guide and a rather chunky and splendid Machinery’s Handbook from 1979 – which includes all sorts of tables and charts including logarithms (both common and natural) I don’t know the difference they had phased the learning of these out before I reached that stage in secondary school.
The RP objects are cooling and setting in the machine and I will go tomorrow to extract.
