AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
“We found there are a lot of mathematical connections in kirigami and origami,” Choi says. The study grew out of the team’s previous work in both kirigami and origami - the Japanese art of paper folding. Mahadevan, a professor at Harvard University. “This could help us to make large, kirigami-like façades that can transform their shape to control sunlight, ultraviolet radiation, and be adaptive to their environment.”īecker and Choi are co-authors of the new study, along with Levi Dudte, a quantitative researcher at Optiver, and L. “One of the first applications we thought of was building façades,” says Kaitlyn Becker, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. There’s also potential to design active materials, for instance as smart coverings for buildings and homes. “But with kirigami, we can actually turn a square shape into a circle shape.”įor engineers, the new method could be used to solve various design problems, such as how a robot can be engineered to transform from one shape to another to carry out a particular task or navigate certain spaces. “People have talked of the square and circle as one of the impossible problems in mathematics: You cannot turn one into the other,” says Gary Choi, a postdoc and instructor in applied mathematics at MIT. With their new method, researchers designed and fabricated a number of transformable, 2D kirigami structures, including a circle that turns into a square, and a triangle that morphs into a heart. The method can be used to determine the angle and length of cuts to make, such that a sheet can transform from one desired shape to another when pulled open and pushed back together, like an intricate, expandable lattice. ![]() ![]() There’s been no blueprint for engineers to determine the pattern of cuts that will transform a material from one desired shape to another - that is, until now.Ī new study in Nature Computational Science presents a general computational strategy that can solve any two-dimensional, kirigami-inspired transformation. For the most part, such inventions are products of from-scratch design. Scientists and engineers have also taken inspiration from kirigami, applying principles from paper-cutting to design robotic grippers, stretchable electronics, water-harvesting sheets, and other shape-shifting materials and devices. In the hands of an artist, kirigami can yield remarkably detailed and delicate replicas of structures in nature, architecture, and more. The Japanese paper craft involves cutting patterns in paper to transform a two-dimensional sheet into an intricate, three-dimensional structure when partially folded. Cutting with the bumpy side up will allow you to see what you are doing.Kirigami takes pop-up books to a whole new level. Glass mosaic tiles usually have small glass ridges on the back side to allow adhesives to bond to the tile more securely, but they can created problems when cutting.To cut the glass tile in a straight line you need to cut quickly, cutting slowly can result in crushing the tile.The wheels of the cutter need to go in the middle of where you want the cut to go. When cutting keep the tool straight (don't get the wobbles) as you can get a curved cut leaning the tool one way or the other.Be careful not to drop this tool as the wheels can move out of alignment which can't be fixed.As you use the wheel and turn it, make successive marks until you have used the wheel. When you first get your nippers draw a line with a permanent marker where you first use them to cut. If you notice the tool becoming dull use an Allen key to loosen the wheels and rotate them slightly.It applies even pressure to the top and bottom of the tile causing the glass to fracture along the lines of the wheels. The two wheels which are made of either steel (cheaper ones) or carbide.Makes cleaner & more predictable cuts when cutting glass than tile nippers.Don't use this tool to cut ceramic or stone because the wheel blades can shatter and break. ![]() ![]() These tool is primarily used for cutting glass tiles, stained glass, smalti, mirror and glass gems.Different kinds of tiles and colours cut differently.If the jaws met they would crush the tile rather than just nipping it. The jaws of nippers don't actually meet.The skill is learning how to control the fracture to achieve the shape you want. When pressure is applied to tiles they will tend to fracture along the path of least resistance, which most often isn't where you want the break to be.You are not actually cutting the tile rather you are trying to control the fracture.Mosaic tiles are cut with different cutting tools depending upon the type of tile.This 'How To' looks at tools for cutting tiles and techniques. The cutting of glass and ceramic tiles is a fundamental mosaic skill that, when mastered, will bring you one step closer to creating the mosaic design that you've envisaged.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |