- torsion box pieces being cut by the cnc.
- all the pieces ready to assemble. yes, they all fell out in the elevator. yes, i laughed a lot.
- web all glued up. time for a photoshoot.
- torsion box on campus.
- glueing the underside skin to the web. clamping with the inserts that will then be glued inside the frame. happy accident.
- nuts ground and epoxied into the inserts to receive 1/2″ bolts on a ten inch grid for modular formwork.
- sam and his luthiery workbench being flattened.
- preparing for final glue up.
- torsion box all glued up and being flattened by cnc. the machine removed around 1/32″ from the high points in order to make the whole surface flat.
In brief, I made a huge plywood waffle. Not for eating.
The college of architecture has acquired a new cnc milling machine. Now our 3D and 2D work from Rhinocerous and other modeling programs can be translated and cut from a variety of materials at incredible precision. How does 1/1000 of an inch sound to you? It really works.
I designed a torsion box to be easily assembled from 1/2″ and 3/4″ plywood. The work would otherwise be very tedious and difficult to achieve the precision necessary. This box will be used as a staging area for the modular formwork designed specifically for the chair, as well as a long lasting attribute to my collection of tools to be used for future projects.