Luke Shen


Resume
LinkedIn

Projects:

  1. MH3D Alpha SPECT Mini
  2. Snapdragon RS9V
  3. Pirarucu
  4. Himmelnest
  5. Nerf x The Witch From Mercury
  6. Plasso Forms

About
Hard Skills:

Sketching
Hand Prototyping
SolidWorks
Blender
Keyshot
Adobe Suite
DaVinci Resolve
Figma
PythonSoft Skills:

Teamwork
Communication
Systems Thinking
User Research

Flow Form Study: PirarucuProject Type:

Study
Duration:

4 weeksTools:

Band Saw 
Disk Sander
Belt Sander
Oscillating Spindle Sander
Files

Materials:

Ash Wood
Tooling Board Foam
Pink Insulation Foam
Bondo
Gray Primer



Task:Develop and model a form that flows. Include ergonomic functionality for a spatula

Shape the final form out of a 10” x 3” x 2” block of ash wood





Sketching and Ideation:

I was inspired by the arapaima, specifically the fish’s transitional curvature from its skull to spin.
Since I also cook a lot, I made an effort to make the handle ergonomic. I chose to make the form asymetrical to reflect the fish’s flow.




Prototyping Process:

In Adobe Illustrator, we vectorize the top and side views to be references when cutting the shape out on the bandsaw. This is makes a general shape of the form before refinement. 

I thickened the handle in the side view throughout the process to have ease of grip. I also flared out the end to manually grind the shape on the disk sander




Pink Foam 1st Iteration:

The initial cut on the band saw made the form smaller than I’d like. Because of this I thickened the handle to account for any errors during cutting. 

After cutting, I used files and sandpaper to experiment with the secondary curves. Once formed, I wrapped the the pink foam model in tape to draw out the secondary curves for reference


Pink Foam 2nd Iteration:

On my second pink foam model, I still ended up making the handle too thin. I realized I really needed to make the handle thicker. The form visually flowed, but lacked the grip to be a comfortable spatula.




Gray Foam Modeling:

With the gray foam model, the material was harder and required more time to work with. To establish consistentcy, I created curvature jigs, files and powersanding to form the shape. 

Final Wood Model: Before cutting, I visualized the hypothetical wood grain and directionality. Much of the shaping was done by power tools, and refined through files and sandpaper jigs.
Final Shots:






lukeshen@andrew.cmu.eduBack to homeMore projects soon!
Index   Next →