This project was a study of gears, motion, and the intersection of mechanics with aesthetics. I thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition to mesh the inherently mechanical nature of geared motion with the far less industrial image of floating lily pads over a pond of dancing koi. As such, I designed and laser-cut an intricate composition of gears and stoppers that all came together to represent lily pads floating on a koi pond.
\nThe first step in creating this geared pond was creating all of the components in an Illustrator file to be sent to the laser cutter. I made the vector design for the koi fish using Illustrator’s pen tool and my drawing tablet. Although drawing the koi was fluid process, designing the gears required far more attention to detail. I needed to ensure that everything was aligned properly, which required several iterations of cutting, testing, and going back to the drawing board. Although the gears cut rather quickly, the process of engraving the Koi fish at various depths and pressures was extremely time-consuming, taking almost 10 hours in total!
\nOnce all pieces were cut and engraved, I sanded down all of the pieces to remove the resiude and burn marks left by the laser.
\nThe process of adhering all components to the base board was very intricate, since a slight error would have resulted in the gears catching or mislaligning. As such, I laid out and traced all pieces onto the base before beginning any permanent adhesion. All gears were attached via nut and bolt, whose placement I marked in order to make the appropriate drill holes.
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