Cardboard Box-On-Wheels

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – four things that most architecture students subscribe to, but find very hard to put to practice in the architecture studio.

This box-on-wheels was a personal experiment to see how far one could push the term 'reuse' in the context of the studio. Most of our models are built using cardboard parts that are precision cut by a laser. However, weird geometries combined with time pressure limit how much cardboard we can save by arranging the parts efficiently.

Inspired by the use of cardboard as structural element in product design (furniture, bicycles), I came up with the idea of laminating/gluing multiple sheets of scrap, lasercut cardboard sheets together to form a relatively strong board which could be reused. In addition, I also believed that the interesting shapes and uniqueness of each board would lend an aesthetic touch to the final product.

The box would comprise of an aluminum frame with wheels and the sides and bottom of the box would be made out of up to 8 layers of laminated scrap cardboard. Scrap cardboard was plentiful in the studio and I chose pieces that still had a relatively large amount of cardboard on them. The boards with more interesting designs were earmarked to form the front and back of the laminated board. Gluing the boards was a messy business that drew the curiosity of my studio mates!

The final product was rather heavy. The laminated cardboard turned out to be relatively solid as a material, and I believe that the back and sides will hold up to anything that is not too heavy (3kg on each side, 40kg spread out on the bottom, which has bracing). As of now, the box would be used as a protective container to store my architecture posters!

Cello Repair 11/2013

This cello belongs to a friend who played it in his school's Chinese Orchestra when he was younger. It had survived what I believe was a relatively major fall that saw the fingerboard take the brunt of the impact.

Fortunately, most of the force of the fall was used to break the glue holding the fingerboard to the neck, resulting in the fingerboard breaking off and taking a small chunk of the neck it it. For those who don't know, violins are held together by hide/animal glue, which is designed to give way in some situations before the wood cracks.

Other than having a small chunk of its neck torn off, the instrument suffered no other forms of structural damage Gluing the fingerboard back on is (and was) a messy and frustrating business as it tends to slip and slide, smearing glue all over the place (in any case, dried hide glue is easily washed off with hot water).

One other complaint my friend gave me was that he did not like the sound of his instrument (before the fall)! Besides new strings (which the instrument was in dire need of), I noticed that his bridge was also thicker than normal. Violin shops sometimes leave the bridge (and the entire violin for that matter) a bit thicker than recommended on student instruments to negate the lower quality of the wood used as well as to allow the instrument to better survive repeated abuse.

However, a thick bridge muffles the sound of an instrument as it cannot efficiently transfer string vibrations to the body of the instrument. On the flip side of the coin, an overly thin bridge also does detriment to the tone of the instrument and will also warp with time (due to pressure from the strings).

Thinning the bridge (I used a belt sander) tested my patience as bridge thickness is measured to an accuracy of 0.1mm (using digital calipers) and it is very easy to over-thin the bridge. Overall, I had to thin the thickest parts of the bridge by around 1.2mm and the thinner parts by as little as 0.3mm. The results were quite satisfactory as constant checking ensured that I did not shave off too much (a lesson learnt from carving a violin bridge for the first time).

Putting everything back together, the cello spoke again after many years in storage. A final verdict on the tone (normal student grade tone, rounded, slightly bright, a little thin) however, will have to wait for new strings!

Violin Repair 11/2013

This is a Suzuki (Japanese) violin that belonged to my friend's grandfather. It came in the condition that any old instrument will have come in – in need of repair!

Overall, the instrument had suffered no real structural damage. However, its seams were very loose in many places as the glue had dried out and cracked over the years. In addition, the previous owner had attempted his own repairs by gluing some of the then-loose seams shut with gum! The violin had lost its bridge and had to have its fittings and strings changed/reworked.

All seams that were not held together with gum were broken and glued shut. One point to note is that gum used was effective to the point where it was impossible to remove from the instrument! Not the proper way to repair an instrument (you can't open the instrument after that without damaging it) but functional nonetheless.

A new bridge was carved; this is the first time I have ever done this or any other fine wood carving so I selected a $16 Aubert Mirecourt bridge (second lowest grade, from France) The bridge comes with its rough shape and detail already in. A violin maker will then thin the bridge to specifications, fit the bridge feet to the curved body of the instrument and further carve out the details on the bridge. This is all very skilled work as the maple bridge will crack/break if too much force is applied at the wrong points.

All in all, luck was with me most of the way. The bridge I made was overly thin in some places due to my overzealous and impatient sanding (which will lead to it warping with time and affect the tone of the instrument). However, I was able to do everything else without damaging the bridge or cutting myself (I used a very sharp carving knife). The only other complaint about the bridge was that the angle between the A and E string was too shallow, making it easy to accidentally hit one when playing the other.

Other than that, the tuning pegs were trimmed as the ends were sticking out. One peg turned out particularly loose. A new soundpost was carved and fitted in. A new tailpiece, chinrest and strings were then installed and the instrument was given a wipe down.

The tonal quality of the restored instrument was bright. It carried a modicum of projecting power but sounded somewhat thin, possibly due to the thin bridge. I believe that adjustments to the soundpost (which was a hair too long on hindsight) and bridge position would produce a perceivable improvement to the sound of the instrument in both tone and projecting power.

35mm Film Holder

There are a few ways to digitize film negatives. You could scan them in (takes very long), scan the photos they produce in (a bit faster) or you could use a DSLR to take pictures of the negatives. The last method is relatively quick, but requires moderate photo editing skills to correct the colors of the negatives.

It also requires a 35mm film holder. There are some commercial models that attach to camera lenses but its easy to build your own as shown here. This guy was made out of (lasercut) clear acrylic painted over with acrylic paint. It holds a strip of negatives steady and frames a single 35mm negative for capture.

Cello Stopper

This was a rather old project; I found a nice sheet of clear acrylic lying around and decided to make cello stoppers with it.

There are two types of cello stoppers available in the market; one relies on friction to keep the cello from sliding away from the user during use and the other utilizes a strap with a metal/wooden ring at the end at secure the stopper to the chair the cellist is using. However, both come with disadvantages: one needs to be cleaned regularly to maintain its ability to grip the floor and the other limits the types of chair the cellist can use as the chair leg must be able to fit into the ring at the end.

This cello stopper overcomes both disadvantages as it uses a nylon strap to secure it to the cellist's chair, negating the need to find a chair with slim legs.

Materials and Methods:

Clear Acrylic 10mm – Scrap Material – Lasercut

Nylon Straps and Adjuster – Beach Road Army Market – Sewn and Melted at the Ends.

Styrofoam Cutter

A styrofoam cutter made from spare materials I had lying around:

The arm can move so as to create an angle between the wire and the table and the temperature of the wire is varied by sliding the black wire up and down the cutting wire.

Specs:

Voltage: 12V DC

Power: 10.5W

Throat: 20cm

Max Z: 20cm

First Cello Repair!

I looked into a possibility of repairing a cello that belongs to one of my friends. Its a Chinese Lark cello with a medium grained spruce table and plain maple ribs and back. As you may know, Lark cellos were one of the (worst) cellos you could get ten years ago and were found in school orchestras because they were cheap! This particular cello has seen service for over twenty years and sounds comparatively decent, probably owing to the fact that it has been played for so long.


This big guy came in with many problems due to its age:

1. The center seam on both the front and the back plate have opened, shown in the two pictures above and below:

2. There were two open seams on the treble side of the instrument:

3. The nut had come off and was only held in place by the tension of the strings. 

4. I also discovered that the fingerboard was coming off when I was about to put everything back together.

5. The endpin was damaged and was not at all parallel to the body of the cello, making playing awkward.


In any case, onto the repairs! (not in order of the problems listed)

1. Glued the nut back on since it was the easiest.

2. The open seams were next. I made new spool clamps for this job; this set of twenty can do both cellos and double basses!

3. The open center seam on the back was next. This particular repair was quite challenging as the two halves of the black plate did not align properly because the treble half had been pushed out by the pressure of the strings (acting through the soundpost)

This stage was rather scary as the wooden boards had quite a bit tension on them. If one of them slipped....

Anyway, I also glued some squares of maple veneer along the interior of the cello along the back center seam to reinforce it:

The spool clamps acted as a weight to keep the veneer squares down:

4. I did the front seam as I glued the reinforcing veneers onto the back:

The front center seam was another problematic issue; the wood in that area apparently shrunk, leaving a gap between the plates, causing them to come apart. The recommended repair procedure was to place wet tissue in the area so that the wood expands but I didn't want to do something so drastic.

I poured as much bone glue as I could into the area to fill it up. However, it was not to be and the seam opened up again a few weeks after I gave the cello back to my friend. If I ever get to see this kind of problem again, I would try putting a thin strips of maple veneer into the gap to fill it. That should prove to be a more lasting repair

5: The endpin hole on this cello was rather big and the endpin that I bought from Synwin was way too small for it. I tried to fatten the new endpin with maple veneer but two of the three pieces I put in fell out off the other side of the hole! The resulting endpin with the strings on was not very straight, but still an improvement over the previous one so I left it at that.

6. The last problem to be discovered and repaired was the fingerboard. It would probably have held on a few more years but since it was obviously opening up, I took the liberty of pouring some glue in:

7: I fitted a new soundpost into the instrument as the old one was a hair too short. The bridge itself was clearly not carved specifically for this cello; the treble side was too high and the bass side was too low. I could have turned the bridge around but then the feet would have fit badly so I just left it be and told my friend to scrounge for another bridge that I can try my hand at carving! The fingerboard also needed shooting as the scoop for the C string was not deep enough but I didn't bother with that as ebony is the hardest wood to carve and I didn't want to mess with it. I also sanded the pegs down as they were a little too big. However, I went a little overboard on that and the pegs are now too slippery!

Anyway, here are pictures of the repaired instrument:

For those of you who don't know what a nut is, its that small rectangular piece of ebony at the end of the fingerboard that contains grooves for the strings to pass through.

Overall, the (semi) repaired instrument sounded quite nice for a low grade cello, with the exception of the A string being a little thin due to the extra wood on the treble side of the bridge. The C string was fine but would buzz if played too loud due to it being way too close to the fingerboard but all in all, I was quite happy with my repair and setup :)