Perpetual Calendar
I built this calendar that cycles through dates as a fun side project (a week-long design sprint). It was my first woodworking experience and I used it to learn the nuances of choosing and shaping wood! Check out the video below to see the calendar in action!
The Model
The device looks quite simple but involves a fair bit of precision for the mechanism to work. I used a wide variety of materials and different fabrication tools (table saw, planar, laser cutter, sander, 3d-printer, waterjet) to achieve curves without bending or difficult handwork. It became an synergistic combination of wood (red cedar and oak), acrylic, aluminum, steel, COTS parts, and 3D-printed plastic. Using the CAD model and pictures, try to figure out each part and its manufacturing method!
The Base
Of all the features, I really liked designing the curved base. I wanted to achieve the illusion of bending wood and aluminum with only 2D shapes (laser cutting and waterjetting). Try to decipher the assembly process with the two pictures below!
Cutaway View Below:
Some things that I could improve upon include pattern matching and customization. The base doesnt look that seamless because I didn’t match wood cuts at their intersection. After I finished, I had the idea of adding removable blocks inside the mechanism to allow for a different number of tiles that could be cycled through (maybe for hours in a day or days till an event)!