15-09-2024
PROTOTYPING
WEDGED WONDERS
PROTOTYPING | WEDGED WONDERS
It was truly rewarding to finally have the Wedged Wonders desk standing in front of us in a 1:1 scale. And to be quite honest, we were actually pretty scared it might not be as bite-the-back-of-your-hand brilliant as we imagined it would be...
But it was spot on!
Proportions were perfect, ergonomic dimensions correct and the stance was even better than we anticipated. Yay, we actually nailed it!
So now we had a 5-figure, flimsy, rough surfaced foam model with legs that wouldn't yet fit and without functioning bonnets (or even the compartments they would've covered). Proof of concept was a succes, but still....it left us with a ridiculously expensive, oversized, non load-bearing paperweight...
But if life gives you lemons, make lemonade! And so we did.
We decided to take a leap of faith by trying to turn it into a perfectly finished prototype. This meant infusing the entire thing with epoxy resin, cutting the legs and sockets to make them fit, 3D-print inserts of details and fitting them to cut-outs made in the model, fusing the legs and inserts with the main body, sanding it, prime it and smooth out the entire surface with body filler. Then finish it in an epic Wedged Wonder paint scheme.
A herculean task that would be far too expensive, unless we did it ourselves...
And so it began! First step was saturating the EPS(expanded polystyrene) in epoxy resin. This transformed the weak material into a rigid body. We chose epoxy as it does not melt the foam, and after curing it will resist the aggressive fillers and paint that would otherwise dissolve the EPS. Then we obsessively repeated the process of filling, sanding, cutting, reinforcing, filling, sanding, priming and sanding again until the surface was as smooth as possible.
We manually cut the top of the legs and the sockets in the body to make them fit perfectly. We 3D-printed the inserts for the Countach inspired front bumper vents and the Lamborghini Bravo styled rear badge and made cut-outs in the body to fuse them seamlessly. After sealing the cut-outs again with epoxy, we bonded the legs and inserts firmly to the body.
Finishing the 'body work' took an insane amount of time, but against all odds it proved us right in believing it could be done! We now changed the lumps of EPS into one strong, rigid, smooth surfaced and detailed base sculpture, ready to receive a well deserved paint job to finish its transformation.