Form Loves Function | Product Engineering & Industrial Design

There are 433 Parts in your Telephone

23-01-2012

We’re not talking about that Android phone, Windows phone, or iPhone in your pocket. This 1947 video from Bell Telephone Systems shows all the pieces of a 300 Series phone, designed by Henry Dreyfuss, coming together. If “Tommy Telephone” annoys you the way he annoyed me, skip ahead to about the 3:15 mark when the phone parts make their appearance.

It’s interesting to see no only the parts, their geometry and how they fit together, but also the materials used. Not surprising to see copper, nickel, and gold on the list. The lead surprised me for the moment before I realized the product was designed in the 1930′s. Wax, leather, linen, cotton? Yes.

Seeing all the pieces of such an iconic, ubiquitous product come together reinforces the great respect I have for early industrial designers.

Less and More – Dieter Rams Exhibit at SFMOMA

19-01-2012

If you haven’t see it yet, you have a month to visit SFMOMA for

“Less and More – THE DESIGN ETHOS OF DIETER RAMS,” closing on February 20, 2012.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential industrial designers of our time, Dieter Rams produced iconic works and innovative ideas (in particular his advocacy for “less but better” design) that have proved seminal for our contemporary design culture. For more than 40 years, Rams was the lead designer for the German household appliance company Braun. He has also been the active designer for German furniture company Vitsœ since his start there in 1959. This exhibition includes more than 200 models and objects by Rams and his team, as well as contemporary designs inﬂuenced by his Ten Principles of Good Design, such as Apple computers.

The show is well worth the $18 admission fee for anyone involved in bringing products to life; industrial designers, engineers, marketers, manufacturers.

Hours:
M-Tu: 11-5:45
W: CLOSED
Th: 11-8:45
F-Su: 11-5:45

Map:

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BMW Motorcycle Designer with the Quote of the Week

17-01-2012

The quote of the week this week comes from Ola Stenegard, lead designer of the BMW S1000RR, in an interview with BikeExif:

Q: What motorcycle do you despise?
A: None. There is no bike out there that a good blowtorch, angle grinder and TIG welder can’t fix.

That’s a spirit Form Loves Function can get behind.

Feast on some tasty concept sketches of the S 1000 RR:

image: BMW Ducati Husqvarna Motorcycles of Atlanta

image: Pelican Parts Forum

… and the final product:

image: BMW Motorrad

But Stenegard isn’t just a go-as-fast-as-you-can kind of guy. He has a real passion for two-wheeled machines. A passion that shines in his “Forsaken Shovelhead,” hand crafted by the man himself:

image: Exclusive Choppers

Engineer vs. Designer Podcast

12-09-2011

Josh Mings of Solidsmack and Adam O’Hern of CadJunkie.com have been getting together every week and choppin’ it up over some design and engineering topics, tips, tricks, interviews with special guests, recording it, and publishing the conversation as “Engineer vs. Designer.” Episode 7 airs today with a little insight into the philosophy behind Form Loves Function along with their usual industry news, tips, and tricks. Check it out at http://evd1.tv/

Cam-driven Automation

13-07-2011

Back before nearly every piece of manufacturing equipment shipped with computers and motors, automated equipment was driven by cams; mechanical cams not “Computer Aided Machining.” I saw such a machine when I was a young man. Remembering how impressed I was watching this machine execute a dozen or so movements all driven by a single cam shaft with multiple cams, I set out on a video search for footage of such machines. After way too many hours this is the best I could find. It’s footage of a vintage multi-spindle lathe from a now-defunct machine shop in the UK.

It might not be as exciting as watching a 5-axis machine cut a motocross helmet from a block of aluminum, but at about 90 seconds in you can see one of the cam shafts driving some movement. There is a good overview shot at about 2:01 and an interesting close-up on about 5 axes of movement at about the 2:30 mark. There are 7:15 minutes altogether with footage of a few machines.

Deus Ex Machina 1200 Street Tracker

11-07-2011

Deus Ex Machina transforms vintage motorcycles into modern machines of mayhem while staying to true the original heritage. Check out the step-by-step photos of this 1200 Street Tracker:

And while we’re on the topic, why not check out some of the Deus creations rippin’ at Harold Park Paceway:

Deus Ex Machina – Harold Park Paceway Revisited from Deus Customs on Vimeo.

If you were a solid rocket booster

10-07-2011

…on the final launch of the NASA space shuttle program, this is what you would see:

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR FINAL LAUNCH from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

(watch full screen for maximum awesome)

Steel. What was true in 1938 is true today.‬‏

08-07-2011

The equipment may be a bit different, but the process fundamentals are mostly the same. This vintage 1938 film takes you on the journey from ore to industrial steel with a lot of furnaces along the way.

Creature Design Enabled by 5-Axis CNC

03-07-2011

Details on the product design and build process are rarely presented in the comprehensive, concise fashion of this video from John Cox’s Creature Workshop. Sure, he’s building limited run sculptures for the entertainment industry but the process of sculpting, scanning, processing, machining, and assembling is common to many design industries. Plus, I love seeing practical applications of 5-axis CNC machining.

Here are some photos of the process:

Scanning

Processing

Machining

Comment

Beautiful Deconstruction

09-04-2011

Photographer Todd McLellan takes the product take-apart to a new level by artistically arranging the parts and photographing them, then photographing the parts, presumably, being tossed into the air.

The products he takes apart are a few technological generations old but it is still insightful to see how they look on the inside and marvel at the complexity. Younger engineers will be amazed at the level of detail achievable in the pre-CAD era.

More at http://www.toddmclellan.com/; click the “New Work” link on the left and have a look at the video of the deconstruction and photography process.

Comment

Search by Shape

03-04-2011

Partbrowser allows you to search your 3D library using a rough 3D shape as a search query:

PartBrowser – Browse-by-shape for CAD files from Andrew Sherlock on Vimeo.

This technology will be REALLY interesting when we’re downloading 3D files and printing them at home.

Comment

Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design

02-04-2011

It’s a classic that you have probably seen before and here it is again for quick and easy reference:

Good design is innovative
The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Good design makes a product useful
A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

Good design makes a product understandable
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Good design is unobtrusive
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Good design is honest
It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Good design is long-lasting
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

Good design is thorough down to the last detail
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Good design is environmentally friendly
Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Good design is as little design as possible
Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.

Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Copyright Dieter Rams, amended March 2003 and October 2009

Though Dieter was primarily an industrial designer every one of these points are equally applicable to product engineering.

Check out the interview for some additional context.

Comment

Gesture-Based 3D Modeling Interface

01-04-2011

Arduino + Kinect Hack + PureData = Minority Report + Real-world Productivity

I can’t imagine modeling with this interface at this pace all day but this is still an impressive mashup of technology.

Comments

Moldflow and FEA

21-02-2011

Moldflow Algor Interop

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing like having a prototype to evaluate (The Value of Physical Prototypes & Moldflow and Part Visualization). This is mostly due to the fact that simulations that represent real-world performance are timely and costly to develop. I can’t remember an instance when I relied on FEA alone without empirical testing to establish actual performance of the simulation.

Autodesk is getting closer to bridging this gap between simulation and the real world by integrating key features of its large software portfolio. The first thing they did that impressed me was their integration of Moldflow and Showcase to aid in the visualization of cosmetic defects on plastic parts (re-link: Moldflow and Part Visualization).

Even more interesting and, in my opinion, useful, is their interoperability between Moldflow and Algor (FEA/mechanical simulation) which addresses the issue of simulated material properties vs. real-world material properties. Typically material properties are applied to FEA models with the assumption they are isotropic. But most injection molded plastics are anisotropic. The real material properties of injection molded plastic parts are dependent on many factors. Flow of material through the mold is an important one since it is the material flow that determines fiber and molecular orientation. This is especially important in the case of glass-filled resins; the strength in the direction of the glass fibers is greater than in the transverse direction. The magic bit of the Autodesk offering is that Moldflow results can be imported into Algor where they are used to calculate material properties at each point in the FEA mesh, better representing the plastic part coming out of the mold. Different gate locations and process parameters can be simulated through both Moldflow and Algor to determine how to maximize the performance of the part in critical areas.

Moldflow Algor Interop

It’s not going to eliminate the need for empirical testing of final parts but it definitely helps in optimizing designs early in the process.

{Update February 22, 2011: Thanks to Bob Williams (@ADSKsimulation) for the link to the video}

Have your say in the forums

Injection Mold Actuator Video

17-02-2011

I just came across this video on actuators in injection molds. It’s a pretty good overview of how transverse action is achieved in mold tools and I found the visualizations incredibly helpful in understanding exactly what is happening mechanically out-of-sight.

Join the discussion.

There are 433 Parts in your Telephone

Less and More – Dieter Rams Exhibit at SFMOMA

BMW Motorcycle Designer with the Quote of the Week

Engineer vs. Designer Podcast

Cam-driven Automation

Deus Ex Machina 1200 Street Tracker

If you were a solid rocket booster

Steel. What was true in 1938 is true today.‬‏

Creature Design Enabled by 5-Axis CNC

Beautiful Deconstruction

Search by Shape

Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design

Gesture-Based 3D Modeling Interface

Moldflow and FEA

Injection Mold Actuator Video

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