I created a slot sculpture of Storke Tower at UCSB using Fusion 360, cardboard, and a laser cutter. This is an adaptation of the "Press Fit Design Tutorial" from MAT 238.

Supplies

Software: Fusion 360. Hardware: Laser cutter. Material: Cardboard.

Step 1: Identify Goal

I decided that my slot sculpture would be of Storke tower because of its simple geometry with some minor embellishments. It would require a base, a roof, and four walls, for a total of six pieces.

Step 2: Model Pieces

The pieces were modeled in Fusion 360. The design was parameterized in preparation for the following step. At first I thought I would need two variations of the wall piece, one type matching to the edges of the other type, but I figured out that I can make the right side of each wall fit into the left side of each wall, allowing all four to be the same shape.

Step 3: Refine Parameters

I repeatedly printed pairs of test pieces to see how they fit together. At first they weren't sliding together easily, so the notch width had to be widened until I could take it apart without great effort. I also had to go back and fix some parts of the design that I hadn't set up the parameterization of properly.