Assignments for the week:
- Use a computer controlled cutting tool to make a pressfit objects can that can build into larger objects.
- Learn how to design pressfit objects that account for the physical realities of fitting them together.
- Violate a patent. (well this became a personal goal once I realized that what I wanted to make would in fact violate one
)
So let’s violate a patent. It’s easy!
A few weeks ago a friend showed me a bunch of small parts he 3D printed that would assemble into a polyhedron when you put a bunch of them in a box and shake them up. Aparently he had found the design on Thingiverse, printed his own copy, and then shared a picture of it back on thingiverse. He then got a message that said what he created most likely violated this patent, which basically claims that only one person in the US has the right to make a polyhedra that snaps together in only one way using magnets. The message also said that if he was only printing it for educational purposes he was probably safe from legal attack. Then the entire model page went missing from the thingiverse. So I decided to recreate a new pressfit version this week.
First the sketch
I started by modeling a single side in blender. I then used the the UV Unwraping function to create a cut pattern for each side. Blender allows you to save a high resolution bitmap of the side which I then opened up in Illustrator to create a final vectorized version for cutting.
Here is the Blender File.
Time to cut, and cut, and cut some more
I then did a few series of test cuts to make sure the pressfit pieces were working the way I wanted. I also found the the magnets would be sufficiently held in place by simply cutting slightly undersized holes and hammering them in place.
The final pieces looked nice and snapped together well. I would love to add the top pieces which makes them only able to assemble into polyhedra pieces, but that would actually be illegal according to our current laws.
Final Thoughts
I recently found the Decolonial Media License 0.1. And reading it really made me realize how messed up and part of a larger system of systemic oppression patents and licenses can be. I’m starting to see them as a way for the powerful to colonize and claim intellectual spaces. Sometimes literally regardless if others might have been there first. And our system enables them to literally take away others rights to be in that space after they’ve dropped their flag… or I mean patent.