Introduction: Central Office With Artificial Dunes

"Dreams are made of sand and sun....."

This particular model is a replica of the central office with a artificial sand dune next to the building. I designed the dune as part of my work as an Civil Engineer. The office and sand dune are located on one of the resorts I designed. I am posting the STL files here so you can directly use that file to print this.

Step 1: Planning

    Before you can lasercut and print all the materials, you have to make sure that all the plans are made. The facades of the building are all designed using AutoCAD 2D. After the facades where designed, made the files ready for the lasercutter, using Adobe Illustrator CC 2015. The files for the lasercutter are added to this step.

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    Step 2: Materials and Tools

      The materials:

      1. The sand dune:
        • 9 x poplar plywood plate 300 x 600 x 6 mm
        • Wood glue
      2. The watchtower:
        • Plastic yellow
      3. The building:
        • 1 x poplar plywood plate 400 x 700 x 3 mm
        • 1 x A4 format transparent sheet of plastic
        • Wood glue
        • 3 x glue stick for the glue gun
        • 4 x piece of sandpaper suitable for a sanding machine
      4. The lights:
        • 10 x LED light
        • 1m wire black
        • 2m wire red
        • 6 x SE MINI-SMD Switch
        • Battery casing
        • 3 x AA battery
      5. The terrain:
        • 1 x popular plywood plate 300 x 600 x 3 mm

      The tools:

      1. The sand dune
        • Small lasercutter (600 x 300 mm)
        • drill
      2. The watchtower
        • Spiderbot 3D printer
      3. The building:
        • Big lasercutter (700 x 400 mm)
        • Glue gun
        • Sanding machine
      4. The lights:
        • Electric soldering iron

      Step 3: Lasercut the Sand Dune

      To lasercut the sand dune, you need to use the file which is added to this step. You send the file to the small lasercutter (600 x 300 mm). When the file is ready to print, hit play!

      When the pieces are all cut, build the sand dune. All the pieces are engraved with a number (except for the top ones), so it's easy to put the dune together in the right order.

      When all the pieces are all in the right order, start sticking the pieces together with the wood glue.

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      Step 4: Laser Cut the Walls of the Main Building

      After the dune, it's time to lasercut all the facades for the main building. Send the file (which is added to this step) to the big lasercutter (700 x 400 mm). Change the color settings to the settings which are also added to this step.

      Attachments

      Step 5: Assemble the Walls

      After all the pieces are cut, sort them out and start making the left and right edges into an angle of 45 degrees, using the sanding machine.

      When this is done, start putting "the glass" behind the window and door frames. Do this by cutting the A4 transparent sheet of plastic into fixing parts and glue them on the backside of the window and door frames.

      After all the facades are ready, take the plywood plate (700 x 400 x 3 mm) and assemble the pieces together till the building is finished, except for the roofing. Use the PDF's to design the building.

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      Step 6: 3D Print the Watchtower

      To make the watch tower which will be put on top of the sand dune, use the added file. The link to the fil online is: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24123. First you have to scale the model to a height of 4 cm. after that you can send the file to the 3D printer.

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      Step 7: Electrical Circuit!

      To make the design more beautiful, we have to put lights in the building and on the dune. To connect the LED lights, follow these steps:

      Top of the plate:

      1. Drill holes into the bottom wooden plate (see the picture for the locations);
      2. Put a LED light in each one of the holes except for one in the left unit (see picture);
      3. Put the battery case next to the empty hole and put the wires trough the hole;
      4. Make the casing for the switches;
      5. Put the 6 switches into the casing;
      6. Drill a space into the bottom wooden plate and put the casing over it;

      Bottom of the plate (use the electrical plan):

      1. Cut different lengths of wire to connect the battery case and the switches;
      2. Connect all the wires to the lights, switches and the sand dune (use the soldering iron to solder the wires to the LED lights);
      3. Put three battery's into the casing.
      4. Put the watchtower onto the sanddune.
      5. Use the switches to control the lights!

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      Step 8: ENJOY!

      Credits:

      #StadslabRotterdam

      #Fablab