How to Customize a Radiator Cover

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Step 1: Starting Point

My girlfriend and I had the need to renew the radiator cover in the living room, too old in the shapes and colors that certainly did not suit the modern environment of the room:

Step 2: Design

I then proceeded to create a parametric model that allowed me to play with the shapes using the Voronoi decomposition of the spaces. A draft of the new radiator cover as redesigned is shown here

Step 3: Realization

As you can see the shapes are irregular and it is difficult to get an impeccable result using a simple drill and a hacksaw to make holes on the new panel. So I thought to a convenient alternative, extremely precise: to use a laser cutting machine. The only difficulty was given by the dimensions equal to 88.8x75 cm. I made some calls and thanks to Luca of SpazioGeco I could discover, with great amazement, a wonderful reality: a few steps from Pavia, the ComPVter association with a laser cutting machine that can work surfaces very large up to 100 x 86 cm in dimensions. It was just what I was looking for: in less than 15 minutes the cut was made without any problem. In order to create a sort of contrast (and not only...) I maked a second panel that I painted in opaque black with large holes, to allow the passage of hot air. The two panels were placed one on top of the other and spaced 1 cm.

Step 4: Instalation

I then installed the panel on the old structure of the radiator cover and glazed all in white.

Step 5: Improvement

So I asked myself a question: is it possible to make a radiator cover more functional? And if so, how? The answer came to me looking at a clotheshorse that my girl had placed right next to a radiator: we usually use the dryer but for the sweaters we prefer to dry them the old way. Given this need, I thought: "why not integrate a clotheshorse in the radiator cover? From the thought to the design and implementation the step was short.

Step 6: Video and License

I remind you that this work is released under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) which limits its reproduction and use. For more details please refer to the top right part of this article. Meanwhile, a short video that tells with images what I made