Grid Column v2 Assembly Results

There’s More to Parts Than Just Cutting Them

Yesterday we cut 2 full sheets of plywood with a total a 26 parts. Some of the ribs are extra. The parts were onion skinned but after spending quite a bit of the day peck drilling, hand routing, and sanding we are going back to tabs and having the machine cutting parts a close to free as possible.

Sunlight through onion skin - about 0.02”

Most of the ribs freed from Sheet 2

Finished Ribs and Headers

Finished Header Box parts

Assembled header box, friction fit - no screws, no glues

Assembled footer box, friction fit - no screws, no glues

Grid backplane getting finished

Header Box connected to the Footer Box

Testing bottle fit and alignment

Assembled grid column

Design Pros

1. It worked!
2. All the parts fit well, nothing missing, no errors
3. The boxes and backplane do provide a rigid C-frame so it is free standing
4. The C-frame does allow pixels to seamlessly scale horizontally

Design Cons

1. Ribs support the bottles but bow towards the middle causing stresses on other ribs
2. Ribs are difficult to assemble when loaded with bottles
3. Header ribs are too weak to do much since material is so thin and not locked in place
4. Bottle diameters vary and cause rib deflection
5. Pressure causes ribs to seperate which would leak light

Solutions for v2.1

Since the idea of using the bottle’s middle circumference to lock the bottle into the grid with the ribs isn’t working out, it is time to simplify. The basic dimensions are correct so we can build on the existing parts.

1. Remove ribs and replace with a solid grid of slots like the back plane the diameter of the bottle
2. Change slots in top piece of footer box to match new grid tabs
3. Change slots in bottom of header box to match new grid tabs