For our yo-yo design in 2.008 Design and Manufacturing, our team knew we wanted to do "something with lights" as a unifier. Inspired by ocean bioluminescence and the roundness of a yo-yo, we set out to machine, injection mold, and thermoform our way to this beautiful concept.
I designed this dome pattern to be printed and thermoformed with clear plastic, allowing for some light to peek through the body. Similarly, we chose to injection mold using translucent plastic for a diffused soft glow effect.
Some early process stuff. I spent a lot of time at and got good in using the thermoformer. My team member Winnie was amazing in creating a custom lighting and tilt switch PCB in the first week of class so we could get boards manufactured. The lighting test shown is our model 3D printed on a Formlabs SLA printer in clear resin.
We assembled 74 yo-yos for our manufacturing challenge, partly limited by the mimaki printer breaking down and not printing our design. Our time was limited on injection molding process cycles in the two class periods we had. Combined with the 50 requires for class submission, we were swimming in a sea of jellyfish yo-yos.
A beautiful render in front of the HAAS machine that the team generated for our manufacturing review.
As a part-time mermaid, I couldn't resist the theme and wore my tail to our presentation.