Pause Chopsticks Ma Hashi (間 箸) Process Document

Wiley WebbME318 Spring 2016

Ma (間) is a gap or pause, the negative space between two structural parts. Ma refers not to the compositional elements themselves but rather the viewer’s experiential feeling of awareness of simultaneous form and non-form.

This experience taught me to consider the smallest details in both design and implementation and to design with, not against, my self, my tools, and my materials.

Iteration is always possible. I began with the passive, fixed process of “Plan, Press Go, and See How It Turned Out”. I finished with the active, flexible process of “Plan, Identify Unknowns, Try, Pause, & Understand, and Adjust & Iterate”.

Learnings

Make just one of something before making multiple. I wasted time in preparing excessive amounts of stock and “nice-to-have” CAM operations. In attempting to make that first chopstick, I discovered my unknown assumptions.

The whole process is the process; not just the exciting CNC-machining part. I treated “boring” prep steps, such as CAM, cutting my stock to size, strap-clamping the fixture plate down, or measuring tools, with love, pride, and focus.

Poka-Yoke. I named my USB drive this Japanese word, which means "Mistake-proofing”, to constantly remind me how to design my manufacturing processes.

Identification & Exploration

After searching my self and my needs, I identified a goal for ME318:

to make an object of aesthetic delight that I would interact with on a daily, functional basis.

Prototyping to discover ergonomics

I studied all sorts of chopsticks and made several wooden prototypes to identify my ideal proportions.

Form guided by ergonomics

CAD & CAM for stock and fixture plate

I sought to expose a bar of material within the chopstick, like a pencil’s lead. This required machining two windows in the chopstick from all four sides, flipping the chopstick over four times in the machining process.

I fixtured my stock through a standard 2x bolts (to hold it down) and 2x pins (to hold it in the xy plane). I also had to machine my own fixture plate for the bolts and pins to fit into.

Machining Prototype 1: Stainless Steel

My first pass at machining stainless steel was noisy, vibrating the long bar like a violin string, leaving beautiful patterns. The bar got so hot it actually bent! I learned to machine both sides evenly and to switch to aluminum given the delicacy of my geometry.

Machining Prototype 2&3: Aluminum

My second prototype broke at the tip, only .060” thick. I adopted a more iterative mindset of listening closely to the sound of machining, pausing the operation, revising my CAM to machine more gently. I finally succeeded through machining the base of the chopstick, flipping it four times, before machining the tip.

Arnold’s Finishing in San Jose applied a gunmetal black hard-anodize finish, protecting the chopsticks from scratching. Additionally, I finished one piece of the stock to use as a chopsticks rest, a reminder in telling the story of the fixturing and machining process.

Finishing