Red Blue CNC | 2010 | Aluminum + Electronics
The Final Top 20 for the 2010 James Dyson Awards (out of over 500 entries worldwide).
Red Blue CNC is a modular CNC system that can be rearranged easily to suit specific tasks better. Hobbyists and developers can experiment with CNC technology while bypassing the complex learning curve needed to build complex CNC machines. Red Blue CNC promotes experimentation to further develop new types of CNC and tool heads.
Red Blue CNC has 3 modular boxes (one for each axis), two support arms, and smaller parts. Universal mounting holes can be found throughout the boxes to allow endless configurations. Adapters and parts can be easily made to allow other configurations as needed. Because of its modular design, upgrades can be easily and inexpensively achieved by only replacing the part needed. In previous CNC machines, all parts are part of a casing, in which modifications and upgrades are difficult if not impossible. In its standard configuration, the user can transform the CNC from its standard setup into a wheeled-cart for ease of transportation. Its standard setup allows for machine work to be done above the surface, much like typical CNC machines, and below the surface. This allows oversized materials to be worked on and no longer limited to materials that can fit on the CNC table. The user can now do work on otherwise impossible materials, such as the sidewalk, table top, or trees directly. The boxes can be reconfigured to do vertical work, such as a wall plotter, to do custom wall-paper patterns directly on the wall.
This year long thesis project was a long process. It started off with a personal project done two years prior, a portable collapsible CNC machine that I built and designed myself. Wanting to improve on the concept I wanted to remove restraints on how CNCs can be arranged. By removing each axis to its own separate boxes, this minimized on how the user can assemble a CNC. Because not everyone have a workshop to work in, hobbyists often work in any place they can; by improving the aesthetics it allows its users to keep it in their living room without it looking like a typical tool. I found inspiration from the De Stijl movement with Gerrit Rietveld's Red Blue Chair and his 40 Lamp. The Red Blue CNC concept also mirrors the design philosophy of Rieveld of taking the products and making it more accessible to the general public.
Featured in many design and tech blogs such as Design Boom, Design Spotter, Emily Carr, The Independent, Make, Notcot, Ponoko, Switched, Yanko Design, and many others.
For the complete process story of this project, a blog was created in which tells the complete story from start, development, all prototypes, and current updates: http://redbluecnc.blogspot.com/
Click to watch video #1: Red Blue CNC being transformed from standard setup to wheeled-cart
.
Click to watch video #2: Red Blue CNC in action playing the theme song from Tetris
