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process of working out the technical aspects and joining methods

the joining

initial concepts (from my visual diary)

300mm reduced to 200mm !!

i realised that the bookshelf doesnt need to stick out too much from the wall... im just wasting the material!! so i reduced the depth of the bookshelf from 300mm to 200mm... which is still able to hold larger books like magazines =)

more views

how it works

slotting !! =D

and by mounting onto the wall with screws !! hm... i know i didnt show that in my previous picture... cos i need to work out the size of the screw that holds the bookshelf... and im still deciding on which type of screw to use...

my magnesium bookshelf !!

woohoo !! finally finish my rhino... took me forever to change and fix some details today !

bombay sapphire exhibition

i went to the bombay exhibition the other day... took me forever to walk there from the central station! i was quite impressed with some of the works at the exhibition =) especially the plexa#1 screen!

Concept Development

so the bookshelf is the only one that works... during studio time rina helped me alot and said i have to work more on expressing and using the qualities and uniqueness of my material - magnesium

i have a clearer direction now - i need to come up with an effective way of joining the modules together to form the bookshelf... i think there's a lot more for me to do... in terms if thinking of a method to join and also mount them onto the wall

Thixomolding

How it works

1. chips of magnesium allow are fed into a heated screw and barrel assembly where an argon shield prevents the material from oxidizing
2. as the screw rotates inside the barrel, the magnesium is conveyed forward and heated to between 1040 – 1166F (560 – 630C), where it forms a semi-solid slurry
3. the semi-solid magnesium allow is injected into the mold at a high speed
4. the viscocity of the allow is reduced due to the materials thixotropic state, and it can therefore flow into the desired form with higher precision than casting and forging

Advantages
easily automated and controlled
high production rate
smooth filling of the die
low shrinkage porosity
lower melting temperature
higher dimensional accuracy
highly complex shapes
enhanced component properties
achieve very thin walls

My approach to the project

After researching into the material I recognized that traditional applications of magnesium demonstrate only the functionality of the material as they are used primarily for mechanical and structural purposes. They are widely and mainly utilized in the automotive and aerospace industry. And for such functional intentions, attention was focused primarily on exhibiting the properties of magnesium – light weight, superior weight-to-strength ratio, high impact and dent resistance, dimensional stability, excellent damping capacity, ease of machining, ease of welding and so on. These properties were the only appealing reasons and they were displayed and highlighted in the traditional applications of magnesium to demonstrate the functionality of the material. The application of these properties at the time identified magnesium as a metal that means light and strong. I think that the properties and functionality of magnesium were successfully highlighted. However, less attention was paid to expressing the aesthetic qualities of the material.

I noticed that recent approaches using magnesium in new products and applications explore new visual forms and qualities that can be exhibited by the material. Encouraged by Ross Lovegrove’s Go Chair, I want push the boundaries further to utilize every visual aspect of the material to produce a new application that echoes the very essence of magnesium.

The Go Chair is polished and powdered coated in white or silver. But magnesium is metal that is naturally silvery white in appearance and I think that powder coating the material in any form of colour hides its visual qualities. I want to reveal the very nature of this material’s beauty through the use of electroplating. Electroplating allows the material to achieve finishes that highlights and emphasizes its very own appearance. I aspire to enhance its metallic silvery white appearance and its sensual qualities. Traditionally we associate magnesium as a material used for structural purposes. Retaining this aspect of magnesium, I want my material to move from mechanical and geometrical structures to soft and organic forms. I want to show the gentle side of magnesium through the use of soft curves and tender forms – something that will be friendly to touch.

Often, we associate metal as ‘cold’ materials. When we touch it, it’s cold; when we see it, it’s cold. Because of this, I’d like to create a warmer feel in my design by using an electroplated satin finish. To me, the texture created out of the material conveys a warmer emotional appeal. Through the use of new visual languages exhibited by the property and visual qualities of magnesium, I want magnesium to not only say ‘light and strong’ but emotionally ‘gentle’ and visually appealing in its very nature. These visual languages are shaped by different manufacturing processes and technologies, and there are unlimited possibilities and diverse design potential for magnesium.

Concept 1 - Bookshelf


Concept 2 - Towel Rack


Concept 3 - Chair

Magnesium

Rational

Background
Although magnesium itself was discovered about 100 years ago, it's application was limited due to its weak corrosion resistance and high cost. But, recently the material has been rediscovered thanks to the development of the corrosion resistant alloys and the price drop of the raw material produced in various cities including China.

Trends

Traditionally, magnesium has been used mainly in automotive and aerospace industries for mechanical and structural applications due to its unique features and properties over other existing metals and alloys; including light weight, superior weight-to-strength ratio, impact and dent resistance, dimensional stability, excellent damping capacity as well as machine-ability. The introduction of the world’s first magnesium chair in 2001 has also lead to many new applications in industries other than automotive and aerospace. Designed by Ross Lovegrove, the Go Chair emulates a fluid and futuristic style, ‘defining elegant yet functional high-tech seating that takes an anatomical approach’.



Light-weight application has become a growing worldwide trend. Magnesium has become an increasing choice due to its light weight (it is two third the weight of aluminum). This has led to its application in products such as electronic housings, eyeglass frames etc.

New Technologies & Manufacturing Processes
Thixomolding, an emerging manufacturing process similar to injection molding allows magnesium to achieve higher precision than existing casting and forging methods. It is a cost effective process that produces more complex shaped components with a thin wall, high density and high dimensional accuracy. Existing products that utilized this manufacturing process include eyeglass frames and PDA covers.

Finishing technologies include magnesium electroplating to achieve bright/dark chrome and satin appearances. Magnesium can also by powder coated with different colours. These finishing and manufacturing processes can be used to enhance the sensual qualities of magnesium while also retaining its physical properties.

more stuff on touchscreens

no one replied my emails =(
so i downloaded some of thier catalogue online... great stuff but its in pdf format and i cant upload it here... so ill just copy and paste some bits and pieces =)

from Touch International there's 2 touchscreen product that i find suitable for my electronic recipe

1. CG Touch

When you need high performance, durability, and environmental robustness from your touch solution, CGTouch, Touch International’s capacitive technology delivers what you need, when you need it. Our all glass sensor provides accurate and sensitive touch response, and is ideal for space constrained applications like kiosks, Point-of-sale, Banking applications such as ATMs, and gaming applications. Durability, optical clarity, pin-to-pin compatibility, speed, accuracy and performance—CGTouch has it all.

CGTouch is available in both standard and custom sensors, and is designed for pin-to-pin compatibility to competitor products for easy drop-in replacement. Available in both curved and flat, CGTouch is proven to meet the harsh demands found in the high traffic, high vandal public access sector. Touch International’s capacitive technology is extremely tough and hardwearing and unaffected by harsh conditions. It also has the benefit of high optical clarity so virtually no light is lost through the touch screen from the LCD making it optically superior. Tested to over 50 million touches on the same surface touch point, CGTouch is one of the toughest and longest lasting touch technologies available today.

CGTouch Capacitive touch screens comprise an all glass sensor coated with an ultra fine layer of tin antimony oxide providing a conductive surface from which the capacitance of the human body can be picked up, creating an X/Y coordinate.

- High impact, vandal, and scratch resistance
- Ideal for public access applications
- No drift, no recalibration required
- Unaffected by environamental factors; moisture, rain, or temperature
- Finger input

Material: Pure Glass (standard)
Surface Finishes: Anti-glare and anti-reflective
Surface Hardness: Scrape hardness 6H of ASTM D3365 and 5H JIS K5400
Touch Activation Force: 50 grams typical
Thickness: 3.25mm to 4.57mm +/- .25mm (Custom thicknesses available)
Size and shape: Curved—15”, 17”, and 19” Flat—12.1”, 15”, 17”, and 18.1”
Supported Operating Systems: MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/2000, CE/ME/2000NT, OS/2, XP, Linux
Chemical Resistance: ASTM D 1308 87(1993), ASTM D 15989 95: Resistant to such
contaminants as coffee, tea, vinegar, juice, and coke
Cleaning: Water, Isopropyl alcohol, and non-abrasive cleaners

2. TI-8 Touch

Touch International's TI-8 Touch is our film on glass 8-wire analog resistive touch screen. TI-8 is perfect for mobile or portable products where compact size is a priority -- such as PDAs, global positioning systems, battery operated educational toys,hand-held computers, and mobil e applications. TI-8 Touch can be used with finger, gloved hand, or pen input, and features excellent positioning accuracy. Historically, TI-8 is the most common of all touch screen technologies.

With its input versatility, durability, and cost-effectiveness, TI-8 Touch is an exceptionally popular touch solution for a growing range of new and emerging applications. TI-8 Touch has been engineered to deliver the speed, clarity, and accuracy required to meet a broad set of application requirements for those customers who are considering a 8-wire resistive solution.

Backed by a two-year warranty and 5 million touches in a single location, TI-8 Touch delivers ease of integration and optical superiority.

TI-8, Touch 8-wire resistive technology consists of a glass or acrylic panel that is coated with electrically conductive layers. These thin layers are separated by invisible separator dots. When operating, an electrical current moves through the screen. When pressure is applied to the screen, the layers are pressed together causting a change in the electrical current and a touch event to be registered.

- Fast, accurate response time
- Versatile input-bare or ylus, or any pointing object
- Superior performance; drift-free operation
- Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light
- Supports multiple operating systems

Light: Transmission 75% standard +/-3%
Film options: Anti-glare, polish standard
Input method: Finger, pen, or gloved hand
Touch activation force: 50 grams typical
Chemical resistance: ASTM F 1598-95: 6% HC1, 40% H2SO4, 10% NaOH, gasoline, acetone, methyl chloride, isopropyl alcohol, hexane, turpentine, anti-freeze, etc. ASTM D 1308-87: beer, tea, coee, cola, ink, bleach etc.
Thickness: 1.35 +/-0.15mm; 2.25 +/-0.15mm; 3.50 +/- 0.15mm *Custom thickness available

W24 Motorola

my electronic kitchen device will be using wi-fi/bluetooth technologies to allow wireless access to online recipes... so i looked at existing wi-fi cards - some are removeable and some can be embedded into electonic devices. they all come in compact sizes.

i found this new Wi-Fi M2M module, the W24 from Motorola. it is 45.2x24.4x5.3mm and weighs only 10gram... so small... so thin... and so light! with current wi-fi technologies... it means that the screen of the electronic recipe can be made thinner... yay!

more kitchens...

just researching different but similar kitchen styles that our gen x men would have... =)

some kitchens...

world's first rollable display

oh last week while researching i found this rollable display by polymer vision, its called the Readius. pretty cool how its folded but a bit too chunky i think... and hope they come in colour soon haha

speakers for my eRecipe !

i thought it would be cool to add speakers to my electronic recipe device... just to make it easier for my user group =)

for those of you who did hsc physics... remember the speakers ? i forgot how it works so i had to do research again... =T

so i looked how how speakers work in MP3 Players Audio and Sound Systems...



Basically the movement of the speaker is the cause of the stereo (mono speakers) making the noise via induction. The Induction is the result of controlled oscillation of electrical current.

A driver is a device that reproduces sound. Drivers consist of woofers, subwoofers, tweeters, midranges, compression horns etc. A driver consists of a magnet assembly, a metal or composite basket/frame, coil and cone or dome.

A driver has a coil of wire that is electrically attached to your amplifier. The coil is the electro magnet not the magnet itself. The magnet is usually made of ceramic but used to be made of Alnico (Aluminum, Nickel, Cobalt; expensive compared to ceramic) and is more often now made of neodymium (a lighter stronger material than ceramic). The magnet has a permanent magnetic polarity that does not change. When the coil of wire is placed inside the magnet assembly "pole piece" and an alternating signal is placed thru the coil it will cause the coil to oscillate as the coil will now attract and repel within the magnet assembly as the polarity changes on the coil. The coil is attached to a cone (or dome in the case of tweeters and some midranges) which is capable of moving air more effectively.

Speakers consist of these drivers usually a woofer, a tweeter, and sometimes a midrange. A speaker will almost always also have a crossover network which is basically a filter network that effectively divides the signals to each driver so that the bass only goes to the woofers and the high freq only goes to the tweeters.

Typical speaker arrangements contain multiple speakers: two for a simple stereo system, or more for more recent systems. All multi-speaker systems need observing the polarity such that the coils in all speakers make the same, synchronized, movement: in a multi-speaker system, some sounds only come out of the left speaker, or the right speaker. That makes the stereo effect. The majority of the sound, however, is being emmitted through all speakers at the same time. The bass drum, for example, can typically be heard through the left and the right speaker at the same time.

Wiring all the speakers in such a system while observing their polarity allows the speakers to make a syncronized movement. For example, when the bass drum hits, all affected speaker coils would make a movememt towards you, then away from you, etc. If one of the speakers is wired with the reverse polarity, this speaker would start by moving away from you, then towards you. Air would simply be shifted back and forth between the speakers, instead of applying pressure on your ear drums.

To avoid that effect of lost sound energy, speakers should be wired up with the same polarity even though they are driven by an alternating current (AC) signal.

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_speaker_work

it needs to function in a kitchen environment

there are too many issues to consider about my electronic recipe... it needs to be resistance against oil, water and heat !! i sent emails to a couple online companies regarding this... i hope they reply me soon *doubts*

touch screen technology

so i decided to do a touchscreen recipe device for my target market, and here's what i found on wikipedia...

A touchscreen is a display which can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touch or contact to the display of the device by a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. However, if the object sensed is active, as with a light pen, the term touchscreen is generally not applicable. The thumb rule is: if you can interact with the display using your finger, it is likely a touchscreen - even if you are using a stylus or some other object.

Up until recently, most touchscreens could only sense one point of contact at a time, and few have had the capability to sense how hard one is touching. This is starting to change with the emergence of multi-touch technology - a technology that was first seen in the early 1980s, but which is now appearing in commercially available systems.

The touchscreen has two main attributes. First, it enables you to interact with what is displayed directly on the screen, where it is displayed, rather than indirectly with a mouse (computing) or touchpad. Secondly, it lets one do so without requiring any intermediate device, again, such as a stylus that needs to be held in the hand. Such displays can be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks. They also play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as the personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite navigation devices and mobile phone.

Some Touchscreen Technologies...

Resistive
A resistive touchscreen panel is composed of several layers. The most important are two thin metallic electrically conductive and resistive layers separated by thin space. When some object touches this kind of touch panel, the layers are connected at certain point; the panel then electrically acts similar to two voltage dividers with connected outputs. This causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. When measuring press force, it is useful to add resistor dependent on force in this model -- between the dividers.

A resistive touch panel output can consist of between four and eight wires. The positions of the conductive contacts in resistive layers differ depending on how many wires are used. When four wires are used, the contacts are placed on the left, right, top, and bottom sides. When five wires are used, the contacts are placed in the corners and on one plate.

4 wire resistive panels can estimate the area (and hence the pressure) of a touch based on calculations from the resistances.

Resistive touchscreen panels are generally more affordable but offer only 75% clarity (premium films and glass finishes allow transmissivity to approach 85% and the layer can be damaged by sharp objects. Resistive touchscreen panels are not affected by outside elements such as dust or water and are the type most commonly used today. The Nintendo DS is an example of a product that uses resistive touchscreen technology.

Capacitive
A capacitive touchscreen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes - it achieves capacitance. The human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits capacitance. When the sensor's 'normal' capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by another capacitance field, i.e., someone's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the resultant 'distortion' in the sine wave characteristics of the reference field and send the information about the event to the controller for mathematical processing. Capacitive sensors can either be touched with a bare finger or with a conductive device being held by a bare hand. Capacitive touchscreens are not affected by outside elements and have high clarity. The Apple iPhone is an example of a product that uses capacitance touchscreen technology.

Capacitive sensors work based on proximity, and do not have to be directly touched to be triggered. In most cases, direct contact to a conductive metal surface does not occur and the conductive sensor is separated from the user's body by an insulating glass or plastic layer. Devices with capacitive buttons intended to be touched by a finger can often be triggered by quickly waving the palm of the hand close to the surface without touching.

Strain gauge
In a strain gauge configuration the screen is spring mounted on the four corners and strain gauges are used to determine deflection when the screen is touched. This technology can also measure the Z-axis. Typically used in exposed public systems such as ticket machines due to their resistance to vandalism.

Optical imaging
A relatively-modern development in touchscreen technology, two or more image sensors are placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared backlights are placed in the camera's field of view on the other sides of the screen. A touch shows up as a shadow and each pair of cameras can then be triangulated to locate the touch. This technology is growing in popularity, due to its scalability, versatility, and affordability, especially for larger units.

Dispersive signal technology
Introduced in 2002, this system uses sensors to detect the mechanical energy in the glass that occur due to a touch. Complex algorithms then interpret this information and provide the actual location of the touch. The technology claims to be unaffected by dust and other outside elements, including scratches. Since there is no need for additional elements on screen, it also claims to provide excellent optical clarity. Also, since mechanical vibrations are used to detect a touch event, any object can be used to generate these events, including fingers and stylus. A downside is that after the initial touch the system cannot detect a motionless finger.

Acoustic pulse recognition
This system uses more than two piezoelectric transducers located at some positions of the screen to turn the mechanical energy of a touch (vibration) into an electronic signal. This signal is then converted into an audio file, and then compared to preexisting audio profile for every position on the screen. This system works without a grid of wires running through the screen, the touchscreen itself is actually pure glass, giving it the optics and durability of the glass out of which it is made. It works with scratches and dust on the screen, and accuracy is very good. It does not need a conductive object to activate it. It is a major advantage for larger displays. As with the Dispersive Signal Technology system, after the initial touch this system cannot detect a motionless finger.

info on e-paper

more...

some cool stuff i found on youtube...

Style Board

These images basicly underlines our niche market - the higher end Gen X males, showing thier typical lifestyle and the products they surround themselves with.