Tower #1

A laser cut, paper spiraled tower.

Paper, laser cutter, and Fusion 360.

My initial goal was to create a paper form that hopefully resembled a building or tower to be used for my final project. I read and got the idea from Paul Jackson's Structural Packaging. Saw this and thought it looked cool.

A simple 2d layout was given with no given dimensions. I had to create my own dimensions that I had scaled proportionally throughout the entire design. I set multiple parameters to keep the dimensions proportional throughout the process. I had used a ruler on my laptop screen to get dimension ratios for sides of 2d layout. I applied those ratios to my layout in Fusion 360.

I had put the file into Adobe Illustrator in order to color code the different lines. I cut out the outer lines and scored all of the inner lines. The laser cut worked as intended. Took about 30 seconds. The folding required some tape on the inside and outside, as I had a bit of trouble figuring out where to fold everything.

I painted over the tape to get rid of the glossy look. I forgot to add manual folds that would have kept the faces inwards. It came out pretty well, but doesn't stand on its own. I'm satisfied with the spiral and moderate leaning. If given more time, I would have gotten to know the folds more and given more time to figure them out.

The reading definitely helped me realize the potential for laser cutting forms. There's a lot of possibilities for paper folding structures. I never thought one would be able to create something with so many faces as the cylinder above with a single piece of paper. it goes to show the accuracy and potential of laser cutting. The introductions help a lot with understanding how to plan and organize a layout in order to put it all together accurately. The closures help with ideation for possible "cleaner", built-in closures for design that otherwise might be risky to physically add something to.