House

Scale: 1:200
Material: MDF, Paint, Paper and others

The Basic Design

For this tutorial, we’ve chosen a simple house shape based on a familiar archetype of the pitched roof with a slight variation to add a bit of interest. Feel free to experiment and make up your criteria for finding exciting shapes and solutions, or try the techniques demonstrated in this post on one of your designs to work in a more realistic setting.

Keep in mind that you will benefit the most from working with this material if you apply your twists and variations to it and do not just follow our examples.

Material Choice

There are two routes to choose from. In this application, professional model builders would work with a dense polyurethane block material (Renshape, Ureol, Sika Block, Obomodulan). These materials have several advantages like they’re fast to work with, have no internal stress, and can be painted with several finishes. On the other hand, these highly specialized models are too expensive to use during the design process.

MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) is readily available in most parts of the world and can even be picked up as scraps from carpenters for model building purposes. On the scale of 1:200, a 16mm MDF plate relates to a typical floor height (~3.2m), and on the scale of 1:500, a 6mm MDF does the same (~3m). The relationship between material thickness and floor height allows us to incorporate the natural divisions of a glued-up block into our models.

Techniques For Working With MDF

Gluing

MDF is best glued with white glue or medium viscosity super glue.

Cutting

MDF blocks can be cut to rough dimensions with the bandsaw.

Template Sanding

MDF can be shaped on the disc sander to precise dimensions with the help of a printed layout that is applied with removable spray adhesive.

Final Sanding

Is best done by hand with 220 grit sandpaper mounted to a flat surface or with a self made sanding block.

Tinting

Applying emulsion paint thinned down with water with a soft brush results in a seethrough finish. This technique is ideal for buildings that are relevant to the context of your design.

Filler

Brush on a thick layer of emulsion paint as filler for MDF. After drying, the block is sanded with 220 grit sandpaper and ready for spray painting. Repeat the process if the block still feels porous after sanding

Painting

After sanding the filler, you can apply any acrylic spray paint to color your volume.

Paper Laminate

For a discrete mat finish paper can be glued to the volume by applying spray adhesive.

Facade

A simple way of adding detail to the block is to glue a laser-cut acrylic or card facade to the volume. This technique requires additional sanding and finishing and shows the method’s potential for designing with models – the model transforms as the project evolves.

Examples

18/03/202213/04/2022

Sawing

Scale: –
Material: Basswood

The Basic Design

Using a handsaw is a liberating experience. Once mastered, the saw allows for intricate cuts with very high precision. Other tools would require complex jigs and work holding devices to achieve similar results.

Following this freedom of cutting at any angle, we chose simple cubes as a starting point. The incisions are based on simple geometric constraints, like diagonals and mid-points. Repeating the pattern results in a longer profile marked with the help of a laser-cutter. The exercise tries to combine the advantages of analog and digital work so that both approaches work together to achieve the final result.

Supplemental material on cube subdivisions and the original material in terms of geometry can be found in the book: Papier, Versuche zwichen Geometrie und Spiel by Franz Zeier

Keep in mind that you will benefit the most from working with this material if you apply your twists and variations to it and do not just follow the examples.

Material

Basswood is frequently used for model building due to its great workability. It can be worked with machine or hand tools equally well and comes in a reasonable variety of dimensions, some of them already planed to size, others rough and more suited for larger work. Model builders like basswood because of its gentile and none dominate grain, a feature that allows for intricate details to be displayed without distraction by decorative grain that you often see in other species of wood. Further processing in the form of staining or painting is possible and the wood takes a wide variety of finishes. Generally it can be said that basswood is elastic and soft and a great material for carving, even across the grain. The trade off of its workability is the low impact resistance and low compressive strength.

It should be noted that sharp tools are a must due to the softness of the wood.

The Method

A simple handsaw and a pairing chisel are all that is needed to complete this example.

We can use the laser cutter for more than just cutting cardboard, and it is an indispensable tool for lots of other things – like marking – as well.

The handsaw is placed next to the cutting line to start the cut, and one hand helps guide the saw during the initial strokes.

Frequently check your progress and make sure that you advance your cut on both lines.

Not ideal, but cutting weird angles and under challenging conditions becomes easier with practice.

Use the lines as a guide while pairing with the chisel to your final surface.

And where would we be without our sanding blocks? A self-made sanding block helps to keep trouble spots in check.

Examples

12/01/202214/09/2023

Achilleas Xydis

Software developer and responsible for the workshop management software and hardware.

xydis@arch.ethz.ch

+41 44 633 49 93

12/01/202220/01/2023

Federico Billeter

Werkstattverantwortlicher ONA

After the apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker and subsequent years of travel in the USA, New Zealand and Japan, I founded a woodworking shop with the focus on furniture, objects and interior design. In collaboration with designers, artists and architects, I produced a variety of prototypes, small series and custom pieces. I later studied interior design and scenography at the Basel University of Art and Design, where I further developed my creative interests. Today I run a small design studio in Zurich, which focuses on interior architecture,
the design of furniture and objects. studiorotterdam.net.

As a supervisor of the Raplab at ONA, it is my pleasure to share with students my experience and skills at the interface between craftsmanship, material and technology.

billeter@arch.ethz.ch

–

16/11/202112/09/2023

PDF Export for Laser Cutting

PDF Export Archicad

Creating a “laserable” PDF in Archicad

Make sure that all lines/areas to be processed by the laser cutter meet the following parameters:
Cut = Red(RGB 255, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Line = Black (RGB 0, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Area = Blue (RGB 0, 0,255) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Degroup all drawn elements
Adapt “Page Options…” to your needs.
Go to “Document Options”.
- Deselecting “Export Layers to PDF” to avoid exporting hidden layers leads to better results in some cases.
- Setting the “Arc Resolution” up to the max leads to better results in some cases. The Arc Resolution Setting reflects the fact, that the PDF Format generated by Archicad does not recognize arcs/circles and must approximate them, by converting them to Polygons.
If you are using Archicad Education Version, it might be helpful to edit your PDF in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator or a similar graphics program before you import it into the Laser Cutter Software Ruby:
- delete all unnecessary lines/areas in your file (watermarks, hatches or frames around your drawing. Remember to delete all the white lines/areas in the background and as well as in the foreground of your file.
- In Adobe Illustrator: Switch to vector view to see all elements in your drawings and delete the ones, which are not intended to be there.

PDF Export Rhino

Creating a “laserable” PDF in Rhino

Make sure that all lines/areas to be processed by the laser cutter meet the following parameters:
Cut = Red(RGB 255, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Line = Black (RGB 0, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Area = Blue (RGB 0, 0,255) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Choose “Vector Output” and “Display Color” for the export
It might be helpful to check your PDF in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator or in a similar graphics program before you import it into the Laser Cutter Software Ruby:
- delete all unnecessary lines/areas in your file (watermarks, hatches or frames around your drawing.
- In Adobe Illustrator: Switch to vector view to see all elements in your drawings and delete the ones, which are not intended to be there.

PDF Export Vectorworks

Creating a “laserable” PDF in Vectorworks

Make sure that all lines/areas to be processed by the laser cutter meet the following parameters:
Cut = Red(RGB 255, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Line = Black (RGB 0, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Engraved Area = Blue (RGB 0, 0,255) (Hairline / 0.01mm thick)
Degroup all drawn elements
Check that the Layers to export are not overlapping.

Wrong.

Correct.

Deselecting “Export Layers to PDF” to avoid exporting hidden layers.
It might be helpful to check your PDF in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator or in a similar graphics program before you import it into the Laser Cutter Software Ruby:
- delete all unnecessary lines/areas in your file (watermarks, hatches or frames around your drawing.
- In Adobe Illustrator: Switch to vector view to see all elements in your drawings and delete the ones, which are not intended to be there.

PDF Export AutoCad

Creating a “laserable” PDF in AutoCad

Make sure that all lines/areas to be processed by the laser cutter meet the following parameters:

Cut = Red(RGB 255, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.03mm thick)
Engraved Line = Black (RGB 0, 0, 0) (Hairline / 0.03mm thick)
Engraved Area = Blue (RGB 0, 0,255) (Hairline / 0.03mm thick)
It might be helpful to check your PDF in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator or in a similar graphics program before you import it into the Laser Cutter Software Ruby:
- delete all unnecessary lines/areas in your file (watermarks, hatches or frames around your drawing.
- In Adobe Illustrator: Switch to vector view to see all elements in your drawings and delete the ones, which are not intended to be there.

08/09/202106/04/2022

Isocurves

Landscape Model (Laser Cutting)

How to build a landscape model with cut contour lines, engraved cadastre data and a 3d-printed building, scale 1:1000:

Use the GIS browser to select a 100x100m plot in Zurich.
The model should feature different contours, engraved information showing streets and plots (AV-Data).
Select one plot for a 3d-printed building.

Goals

Learn how to prepare and acquire data for landscape models
Understand the basics of working with Rhino3d
Know and understand the use of the Isohypsen-Rhino-Plugin
Learn how to operate the laser cutter and 3d-printer

Material

1 mm white cardboard or other, approx. 900 mm x 600 mm
Spray adhesive

Additional Learning Material (Tutorials)

05/09/202129/11/2021

Wahlfach HS21

Modelmaking

Teilnehmende

Teaching Team:

Katrin Derleth, Alessandro Tellini,

Christian Egli

Studierende:

Ammann Rosa, Lewis Beauchamp, Ilena Bussi, Saraja Gantner, Josua Hefti, Jökull Jónsson, Lara Krieger, Luca Lepori, Florin Meier, Raja Stettler, Anton Von Holst, Cristina Wiele

20/07/202106/01/2023

Facade

Scale: 1:50
Material: 2mm Gray Cardboard
Machine: Zünd

The Basic Design

A certain amount of abstraction and discretization is necessary to represent the details of a facade on a model scale. This example guides you through the required steps and exemplifies the description-making process. 2mm cardboard is equal to 10cm on a scale of 1:50. This is a reasonable starting point for the material thickness since many elements like window reveals, ledges, and other features typically present on a facade, fall into the range of the 10cm separation. A layered facade can, in principle, have as many elements as needed, but in practice, it is more common to divide it into the following layers:

Fist layer – this can be a simple piece of card or some MDF, depending on the model’s overall structure. It is not uncommon to have this layer colored or covered with a thin foil to imitate the windows or represent the interior.
Window Layer – this layer has all the cutouts for the windows and doors and sometimes scoring to suggest a particular facade material.
Window Reveal Layer – depending on the design, this includes any raised details that correspond to the windows, doors, and other openings.
First, Second… Ledge Layer – These are optional and show essential elements that characterize the facade. Depending on the model’s design and scale, you may want to extend these layers to show balconies and other features.

As tempting as it might be, it is wise to consider precisely what type of detail needs to be shown in the model. Consider the model as a vehicle to communicate your ideas. In that function, the models converse with you and others. The clearer the model communicates, the better it is for the conversation, and you do not get lost in every tiny detail.

Examples

19/07/202119/07/2021

Concrete Mixer

General Information

Colomix XM2-650

1 machine available

For Concrete and Cement only!

Requirements

In order to use this machine you must have succesfully completed the following courses:

general safety introduction course
introduction to the plaster workshop

Basic safety

Tie long hair back
Wear proper workshop clothes
Wear a dust mask
Wear safety glasses

Please check our workshop rules for more detailed safety instructions.

Allowed material

Concrete
Cement

Concrete Mixer overview

Power switch
Timer
Opening Handle

Quick Start Collomix

Select mixing time (2) (90 or 180 seconds, at ∞ you have to switch off manually)
Open the lid (3) and fill in material (less than 20 kg)
Switch the machine on (1) during the lid is open
Close the lid (agitation starts automatically)
If you choose ∞ switch of the machine manually (1)
Open the lid and remove the mixed material
Clean the machine profoundly (bucket, stirrer and machine)

Things of importance

Cement dusk is unhealthy; it there is a lot of dust, everyone in the room should wear a mask.
Clean the machine immediately after use. First cleaning step is to fill water in the bucket and switch the machine on.

15/07/202114/12/2021