The Herons - Stanford University Computer-Aided Product Realization Class Project
These horseback riding buckles are custom made for my dad. They are named after and inspired on our family farm in Argentina, his biggest pride. Having a spread family all around the world makes it hard to keep a strong connection, but the passion that we share for this piece of land gets the job done.
My design is based on a re-definition of a typical halter square set, but with the personalization of the herons. Worn at the sides of the head of the horse, these pieces of halter hardware are the ones that, if properly designed, are most representative of both the horse and the person riding it. In my case, I included the herons to represent our family farm.
The design of the heron comes from tracing a real photo and then translating the silhouette into 3D geometrical bodies.
These buckles were CNC machined with the wax method for fixturing and a part flip. Then they were post hand carved with a Dremel. As the machine was cutting with the two smallest ball ends, both tools broke and the pieces came out undone. That’s why I had to improvise with hand-carving. Doing some research I found that when adding tasks with ball ends, the first step downs are way too deep for tools this small to hold. If I had the time, I would re-do “tricking” the machine loading them as flat end mills, which according to fellow coworkers at the Product Realization Lab, appears to solve the problem.
Tools / Processes: Hand sketching, Procreate sketching, Adobe Illustrator, Solidworks 3D, HSMWorks, laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC milling, hand milling, waterjet cutting, and finishing.
