dsdn 111 | progress update

I have put aside my container idea because there seems to be a lot of negativity about it and because it will be hard to do it in the cylinder shape without a lathe.

I was finding the slide and lock feature that I wanted to include in this project really difficult to finalise in reality - I am not a skilled carpenter and am worried about chiseling a finger off! So I went back to the idea of modelling it in Solidworks or 3ds Max.

I decided to find a way to lock three layers together with the bottom layer being hinged to the middle and then the top locking the three together. The solution lay in creating a section of a screw so that a thread was formed for the top layer to attach to.

The top literally screws into place and I have added the four circles as a kind of code for telling the user when they have placed the top layer in the correct starting position.

At this stage the prototype is made with 3 mm mdf, I will refine the final form by either adding a wood veneer to it or making it in solid bass wood which would necessitate changes in the thickness of each piece.

I will incorporate rubber into the model by cutting a narrow strip from a glove and using it as the hinge that connects the bottom and middle layer. I have recessed the point where it would be glued so that the two lower layers will connect at all points.

I am going to build a piece of recessed wire into the design so as to satisfy the wire requirement of the brief.

At the moment the dimensions of the model are exactly those of an iPhone (this is how I first tried to explain my idea to people - using two iPhones sandwiched together) however I feel this might be too large and may scale it down to the size of a credit card.

The final model will still fulfill my own wish to produce an 'executive toy'. I can imagine wanting to endlessly and absentmindedly play with the lock feature of the movement.