While waiting back for my second round of prototypes from the laser cutter, I’ve been working on forming my first round so I can have practice for when the final ones arrive.  Pictured above is the spoon being formed in the mold, which I must say has to be the hardest thing I’ve modeled in 3D so far.  After the CNC milled out my design into the foam, I lined it with a thin layer of felt, to keep the surface of the hot acrylic nice.

The spoon and the fork required forming, and I learned a lot from these early forming attempts.  Tines on the fork have to be carefully watched, as well as handle/tab shape while hot.  Any warping or distorting of the handles really presents a problem.  When attaching the tabs into the warped slots, the tabs don’t line up and the design doesn’t work.

The changes for the next round are exciting, and once I get them back I’ll begin working on them.  For now our class has the first round of prototypes on display in our department, but we’re planning to revamp the display once we all make our adjustments before the final show.

Check out more updates at my previous Phillyware post