add-a-pad
A project for 24-672: DIY Design and Fabrication course at Carnegie Mellon: This assignment required that we build a mount of some sort for a common desk item. The assignment also required that the mount either clamp to the object, or had some degree of adjustability. I chose to make a mount to attach an Ipad mini to a laptop monitor to act as an additional monitor, or a sketchpad.
Process
For various reasons this needed to be turned around in one day, as a result, the manufacturing and assembly methods are fast, but not entirely optimal for the final product. Regardless, the time constraint led to some interesting engineering decisions.
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Acrylic was given by the course, but also was a decent choice for the project given that it could be lasercut and glued in minutes.
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A combination of JB weld and acrylic glue were used layers were stacked on by one to create the 3D shape
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It was an interesting task knowing that both as a result of material and time, there would likely only be one attempt at fabrication. This meant that design was crucial, and that CAD needed to be perfect
Initial Sketching
Knowing that the clamping mechanism had to work on the first try, I decided to turn to existent clamping mechanisms used for far larger forces than requiered, and thought of lathe tool posts. Implementing this into the design was fairly simple, and the captive nut meant no tapping was necessary.
The functionality of the final product is decent, the iPad fits snuggly but without too much effort and the clamping mechanism works dependably. The fit and finish on the other hand, could have been improved with some more time.
