Today’s tutorial with Paul WIlgeroth was quite insightful. Previous to my tutorial, Paul had already approved my report proposal, though after finishing the proposal, I haven’t actually started the body of the work. Paul could sense that I was a little wary about starting and I discussed my worries about the project with him, mainly the point of workload, where I feel like the workload is vastly greater than my previous years on the course. I feel that whenever I feel accomplished on my report work, it feels like my project work is starting to fall behind and the same vice versa. To counteract this, Paul advised that I write a schedule for my work, though I explained that I had already done this and I didn’t feel it was helping me distinguish work between constellation and subject, only what I should be doing for each. Since coming back from […]

Over the last few days, I have begun my technical report – “The Development of Additive Manufacture” and I have been able to complete about 1000 words of the dissertation. I have been able to finish my first chapter about the different methods of 3D printing. I have been finding it an interesting challenge to write in the technical report style, though I do still have a tendency to write in a journalistic style. Fortunately I have been able to acquire a great deal of new sources for my bibliography and references which have proven invaluable to being able to start the report. I am finding it quite difficult however to decide whether some sources are credible enough for a dissertation level report, something I feel I will have to talk about further with Paul. Overall, I am really happy that I have been able to begin my technical report, though […]

This past week I have decided to dedicate to the technical report. After my tutorial with Paul on Monday, I felt like I might be falling behind and so I set myself the goal of completing the second chapter of a total of five chapters. On Tuesday I was able to finally sort my problems regarding the structure of the second chapter. The chapter had moved from focusing mainly on MIT to outlining the original machines that began the additive manufacture movement and the companies who developed them into an industry. I was able to fully complete the second chapter – The origins of 3D printing and so I began writing the third chapter – The Modern 3D printer. On Wednesday, I was able to flesh out the modern 3D printer chapter, with research from a variety of sources, based mainly on the four 3D printing technologies and the different […]

This weekend I have been mulling over some of the prospects for creating a design utilising the research I have attained within my technical report. Overall, I concluded that the future of 3D printing was customisable products, where a product can be customised for each user and created easily using a 3D printer. My current area of focus is revolving around medical products such as casts for broken limbs which could be easily printed per user and provide a greater degree of comfort in comparison to other products. I have also been considering items such as shoes which are often designed for the average user’s foot, but often do not fit correctly causing discomfort. I do however feel as though these products don’t quite match up to the product types chosen by the past examples I have been working from. I feel as though the work I have been doing […]

Today I have been thinking a little more about what I could be doing for the technical report design section. The idea of glasses came up when talking to a few people, where the glasses could be printed for the size of the wearer’s face instead of having a standard size. Whether this would be an interesting undertaking or not, I am not really sure, but it is an idea… Having started thinking of ideas again however, has boosted my confidence a little when it comes to designing ideas. Whilst I am still slightly dissatisfied with these ideas, it is at least something…

Over the past few days, I have been pondering the idea of creating 3D printed crutches of some sort for the technical report design section. Having crutches which would fit the user’s hands and dimensions could be a really useful idea, though I am unsure about the reality of printing such objects . I have also mulled over the idea of making glasses and I just feel that there is not enough to the project to undertake it for the proposal. Having only a single base part which would be designed for an individual yet in the style they want, makes the design way too undecided. It would be impossible just a single product for the report… Crutches do seem like a worthwhile endeavor and I think that they could really measure up against some of the work done in previous years. I would feel content with pursuing this idea […]

Today I have decided to divert my attention to my product design work until the end of the project. I feel as though my product design work really needs more work and I simply haven’t got the time to work on both of the projects and if I tried, I am pretty sure that neither design would be good… Whether this plan will prove effective is debatable, though I feel I can’t handle the two workloads effectively at the moment…