The 123D Catched MEGA Phone

I have continually embarked on the 123D Catch voyage and this time I collaborated with a colleague to create a MEGA phone. After a very inspiring lecture regarding sound and the history of megaphones we thought it would be funny to make a mega- phone. therefore we catched a phone and enlarged it to be as big as the laser cutter could cope with.

I will be using:
123D Catch, which is software made by Autodesk that you can download as an app.
Meshmixer, another Autodesk program that is used to clean up my catch.
123D Make, also free software by Autodesk.
a lasercutter
not glue
a Rona Binay

Start by downloading the software and take the (approx) 40 photos of the object from different angles. I try to circle my object from different heights to create as correct catch as possible. Be sure to also photograph all undercuts properly, that seems to be where many catches fail. 

Use Meshmixer to mark and delete the floor that your object has been placed upon as well as anything else that you dont think should be there. Also, make sure to use the inspector tool to fill any holes that you might have.

Move your object into 123D make and make some hard decisions. How do you want your object to fit together? should it be stacked? in what direction? what size should it be?

We chose to make our MEGA phone interlocked. We then specified how many sheets are to be used in either direction. The red parts on the model signal that something will not work. In this case, the pieces did not fit on the specified output board size. But a quick change in the settings and all is well again. 

So 123D MAKE has the awesome function of making your life easier and planning out how the pieces that you've specified fit onto the boards that you want to print upon. So when youre at this stage, you should export your file and move it over to Illustrator. 

one thing that 123D MAKE doesn't do is place the pieces in the most efficient way. For example, in this picture you could easily fir the two pieces that are on the third board in between the pieces on the first board. This can not be changed in 123D make, but can be easily changed in Illustrator.

Lasercut your pieces! 

123D make has the helpful function of helping you order your pieces. So there will be numbers and letters that describe how the pieces fit together. 

When You have all your pieces, try to lay them out and order them. As you can see we had pieces that were labelled with Z and Y. These different letters are just to help you order what pieces are horizontal and vertical, so they are given separate letters.

Start with fastening the 4 most important pieces. By doing this you secure a "skeleton" that you can work off of.

Work your way outwards, both horizontally as well as vertically. You might need two pairs of hands as this point. It can be a bit tricky otherwise.

When you put all your pieces together you should have a MEGA phone like this one!