MOCK UP

I did a quick mock up of my stool design in regular 3mm cardboard. 

It is not the complete design as the edges will be curved, but the purpose was a general test to see if the measurments are correct and if the design is stable enough as is.

WORKSHOP EXPERIMENTATION

In order to preliminarily test materials and construction method, 

I lasercut a half size version of my current design.

I then tested for strength of the material and the construction method.

This testing has had a dramatic effect on my design and has even caused me to alter my material choice.

The design is a flat pack and can be cut out of a single sheet of material. 

The folding and bending that occurs is assisted by scored lines ontop of the material. 

To subtract weight from the stool, patterns will be cut out in areas that will not affect the stability.

After testing materials and testing out this 50% version of my design, I have decided to alter several aspects. Overall I will change my material from a 5mm pressed card to xanita board, which exhibits more structural strength with less weight.

As far as the design is concerned there will be several adjustments made to accomodate the errors in this 50% trial run. The triangles will sit on the top and bottom instead of floating as they are at the moment. Also sizes will need to be adjusted so that the bottom piece is not so much larger than the actual top piece, which is the seating part. The cut-outs in the material need to be moved once the top triangle sits on the bottom. Also the scoring and bending method will be adjusted to a more scoring and folding method to avoid weakness in the material structure.