Hiccup in the programme

What a shame that everything has gone so quiet, first of all the fire and now no money. Hope we'll be able to get some time on the machines befroe November.
Are you all going to be there on Monday 7th Sept?
Has anyone got any good news?!
Sally

Laser Cutting

I really do think that I want to keep using the laser cutter, its taking me ages to work out what I want to do, sourcing appropriate materials is hard work.

David (Cameron) has been exceptionally helpful - and patient!

I now how a large collection of pieces cut out and just need to make them into things, there lies the rub, what method of joining to use, have tried endless different glues and sticky tapes , films etc, even wonderweb for emergency hemming with an iron. I am not trying stitching.

The Brilliance show opens today and I still only have one pieces finished of the new work (plenty of the old - the shelf is not completely bare).

So - looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done.

Sally

Missing Person

I have been very bad and not posted for ages, I do have a bit of an excuse, having been ill but don't deserve sympathy. Yes Lucien, I too felt rather depressed after my personality thing, and yes can I get a new personality too, where have you tried!?

Work wise, every project I have tried to start has gone wrong, I am left with needing to use the laser cutter for everything, i.e. making copies of my silver compression range in alternative materials that CAN be cut  by laser and also my jewellery box. Sadly I can't get any time on the machine (not even to run a couple of tests)till 28th May which leaves me just a week to produce work for the Brilliance exhibition oops.

I'm sure it will all be fine in the end.

Sally

Personality Profile Problem

Was it just me or did anyone else feel a bit miserable after their personality profile session?

I want a new personality profile!

Can Gold Works help me obtain a new one?

Can I Free Form Fabricate one?

Pesky personality profile - ignorance is bliss and the truth hurts sometimes.

Look at this! Look! look! (ok, I'm a little over-excited)

Wow, this technology is amazing! The haptic arm is my new favourite toy. Seriously, CPD group, you all have to have a go on this! Here's one I made earlier:

:D

Rebecca

Gold Works Machine Update

Hi Everyone, apologies for not blogging for a few weeks.

The M270 had its 6 monthly service and oil change two weeks ago and all was well with it (as you'd probably expect at this point in its life!). EOS are
coming in on the 7th April to provide refresher training for Ed and myself, it should only last for two days, but after that we will be running initial builds for practice and then we'll attempt Mariannes' project :-/.........Also finished is the tooling to assist with job removal from the build plates. I can now bin my hammer and chisel and jobs can be removed with the less brutal assistance from a horizontal band saw....still on the subject of your project Marianne, I'm going to run some of the smaller components of your watch on the Perfactory to see how they look.

The Roland Jewela now has a complete and functioning version of Artcam to run it and I will be attending a two day course in Sheffield for more training.......I've also got Magics training lined up too (oooh my head!!) so
I should be able to assist with any file fixing you may need.

As always contact me if you have any technical questions.

All the best.....Simon.

Initial Ideas

It's not everyday you get a chance to play around with state-of-the-art technology, so I'm hoping to use it to create something that just couldn't be made in my little workshop.

All my jewellery is based around the idea of exploration and discovery - the delicate structures are a mesh of tiny pathways and holes for the eye to explore. I have often wondered what they would look like from an ant's eye view - if you were small enough to really get inside and crawl around. So, using Rhino and possibly a great big 5-axis CNC machine, I am hoping to recreate this texture on a life-size scale... I have yet to find out if it's actually possible, but if it is I am in the right place to do it!

Rebecca

Jayne Jordan is now an author on cpd i am excited!!!

Thanks Lucian,

I can now record my research in microscopic detail through each stage very exciting!

Go faster Jayne..............

Just a quick word to say hello and was great to see all of you(we missed you Marianne) there and hopefully to see my first post.

End of March

Well, we had a good meeting yesterday recapping everything we'd done (or not done!) so far.

We all seem to be in a rather similar place, all having tried to get started with something and then finding some unexpected difficulty. Gill reminded us who we could talk to and how to book time with them, so I'm going to get on and do that.

My first project, in which I had hoped to get some very fine lines cut with a laser, has now changed direction, the laser at Met Works can't cut silver, a local company wanted to charge way to much to make a viable product, so on the advice of Simon, Lucian and several others, I'm having it photo-etched instead. Precision Micro in Birmingham.

The box project - laser cut plywood or maybe acrylic, going to fix an appointment to talk to Ed about materials alternatives and costings, realy hoping for great things with this one.

I had hoped to insert some pictures but things didn't seem to work and now I have run out of time. More soon

SLM Watch

I was relieved that I could hand over my little drawing to the capable hands of someone who knows what they are doing. Now it's Simons turn to sort it out. Sorry for all the holes in advance Simon!



I have learnt loads about the sofware but now I am finding that Solid Works might be better so I am off to do the Solid Works training session on Wednesday. I really think I can do it now which is a really good feeling as I have been reluctant to get on with it, there is always something else to do.



Perhaps the most exciting thing for me is to see something that I would never ordinarily spend that much time making being created in a completely new way. This watch would never, ever have been made by hand so it really will be a totally new experience.



Seeing the kit and understanding how it works has made a different watch from the one I would otherwise have made if I just used the software. The mechanism by which the SLM machine builds the piece is so different from the RP units I have previously seen but I really like the directness of the process. I am not so keen on the build in wax then cast it approach as with watches it just has to be really accurate. Maybe the technology will be so good that one day it will be possible to build a watch movement too....but I don't think I will be doing that.



Lucian I love your imaginary dish! Can it be made real? Looks like a laser welding job to me.



How is everyone else getting on?

Marianne

Gold Works CPD Group.

Excellent entries on the blog Julian!

Anyway, I had the Roland 'jewela' (aka, 4 axis benchtop mill) running the other day and was seeing how it cuts with wax and Chemi-wood. Its very impressive and I'll attempt to get som images on the site in the near future
for you to see. So far ahve only tried it with X,Y and Z axes, but will soon add the 'A' (rotary) axis and then we'll be able to start tapping into its full potential as a rotary engraver/mill.

So I've just received a Rhino file from a very excited Marianne, detailing her wrist watch, if it builds successfully its going to look very impressive and will underline some of the fundamental capabilities of the EOS M270. Hopefully we'll have some builds attempted within the coming few weeks.

Ed' (Alves) and I fired up the Envisiontec Mini last week and attempted to run our first test piece through it. What came out wre some lovely delicate
resin layers which demonstrated the finess of this system pefectly, unfortunately it didn't resemble anything like the file that we put into it, but I'll hang on to it for curiosities sake.

Looking around Metropolitan Works

This happened in January - a bunch of us were shown around by Simon to see what toys we had to play with.















^ CAM milling machine - can shape almost any machinable material. Very impressive, needs to be programmed to create forms (can't import from the likes of Rhino3D). Drummond Masterton down at the 3D Digital Design research cluster in Falmouth has down some impressive work using a similar device.















^ This thing does one thing and does one thing well - grinds large lumps of metal flat















^ Little multi-axis milling machine for soft materials such as wax, can accept STL files which can be exported from Rhino3D and the like.















^ Stereolithography machine, the cover and the orange filter are to stop the light-sensitive resin from going off. Two types of resin are available - a general purpose one and a more fragile one that can burn out in lost wax casting. Objects are built in layers and suspended upside down. Build times are extremely fast - 25mm an hour and independent of detail or density are each layer is exposed in one go.















^ The new EOS M270 Direct Metal Laser Sintering machine. Very posh, it replaces the M250 and improves on it by providing a completely sealed work chamber, variable width Yb-fibre laser, and not forgetting a rather stylish stainless steel screen surround. The M270 is capable of fully melting materials which means it can be used for titanium, stainless steel, cobalt chrome as well as the bronze alloy.

Objects can be imported as STL files.















^ Build times are slooowww. This took about 16 hours an the maximum height can be little over 10mm!















^ It is a fantastic bit of technology but is not without its constraints the main ones being the slowness=high cost and the extensive support structure required for any part of the component that projects horizontally.

All in all it was an interesting tour and gave some food for thought.

Meeting with Yvonne Kulagowski

Apologies for the generally negative tone of this entry - just getting stuff off my chest.

I had my first one to one meeting with Yvonne to discuss my ideas for my project on Tuesday this week. I was a bit nervous about it as I have to admit to being a bit confused.

The problem is I think I had my heard far too far inside the technical aspect of all this stuff and I have become a little detached from my 'artistic engine'. So a good time for a chat and a good time to find a fresh perspective.

Yvonne had the pleasure of receiving highlights of the last five years of practice as I warmed into the subject of the CPD project (what does CPD stand for? - I guess I should know), and she proved to be an attentive listener.

On the subject of the technological kit that is available at Metropolitan Works through this project. My particular interest from the outset was in the EOS Direct Metal Laser Sintering machine - there seems something almost magical about being able to create objects from what is essentially (carefully prepared) dust, but I have to admit that some of the constraints of the process are giving me headaches. Now every technique or process has its constraints and limitations, and we, as makers, have our own to add to the mix. The way one makes successful work is to negotiate ones strengths and weaknesses - constraints can provide direction - it's just at the moment I don't like the constraints of DMLS - a lot of these CAD/CAM process wear the badge of Free Form Fabrication (FFF) - ah! a dream of being able to produce any shape imaginable - DMLS with its requirement for extensive support both as a scaffold and a heat-sink, which then must be brutally removed with a wood chisel or other sharp implement, seems just now very far from this dream. My original design idea was to use it to create shaped sheet components that would then be joined together - a development of some previous work (below)
This stuff (Superabundant) was created from regular sheet in sections, welded together and inflated. I was attracted by the idea that I could create much more complicated geometries whilst retaining the required accuracy. I could of course but the huge amount of hand labour to remove the support structure rather goes against one of my maxims which is to try to utilise the most direct (one way) processes to create form - this is how, I whimsically think, the 'energy' of the piece is evident in its final state.

Another problem with DMLS is its cost - not so much the material but the combination of the hourly rate and the slowness of the process of building. I imagine it is fine for the creation of tooling but it certainly concentrates the mind for creating finished objects. Then of course is the limited choice of materials (but I've known about that for a while so...).

OK stop complaining - fact is there are limitations, as always, the question is once I put my preconcieved ideas away, how do I work with them? That is for another day.

One bit of kit I did get exited about was the stereolithography machine - which is a fairly established technology these days and very much more a FFF method than DMLS. I have an idea for creating low density objects and this might just fit the bill.

I have been playing with fusing wires with a view to creating permeable objects with a 'tenuous presence'.











and have done some bowls as computer renditions











I think there may be some worth in pursuing these with the stereolithography machine.

Just need to come up with a good (great) idea for DMLS.

So what to draw from it all at this stage: I think technology cannot to be the driver of creative endeavour it must be the (humble) servant.

Posting on the blog

Those involved with the Gold Works CPD Group should have got an email inviting them to be a contributor to this blog with the name Vicky Creevey attached. You just need to click on the link on this email and sign up to be able to post. You don't have to create a google account to do this - you can do it with your existing email and will be asked to create a password.

You can put a bit of information about you and what you do on your profile, including a picture.

I like the idea that we all contribute to the same blog but I think it would be good to be able to be able to separate out posts from different contributors. The best way to do this is using 'labels'. I will put an element on the blog that will display these labels and when someone clicks on a particular label they will just see posts for that label. So basically every time you add a post put you name in as the label (be consistent if you use your full name once continue to do so) . I know it is a bit of a hassle to remember but it will make for a better site.

In the blog you can type stuff (obviously), add images:















Like this one

You can also upload video:



Or alternatively embed them (feed from another site):



There is some guidance for embedding youtube videos here (oh and you can easily add links too).

Anyway have fun - and I hope we can make this an interesting chronicle of our creative grapplings with technology.

Gold Works CPD Group

Hi all. Welcome to the new Gold Works CPD Group Blog! Here you can stay in touch with one another and post all of you news.