Yippee 2 – Hyperboloid Stool (Preview)

This is the second ‘thing’ I am making from the Ponoko order I received earlier. I’m calling this post a preview only simply because I am nowhere near finished!  A fusion of laser cutting fun, my most hated subject of math, and cool glowing monofilament is the Hyperboloid Stool [A very expensive replacement for a $5 IKEA stool].

Quad-Hyperboloid - Pink Monofilament <-- That's a mouthful

I ordered the ‘stool’ in 4 materials, corrogated cardboard, 3mm Bamboo, 3mm Black Acrylic and 6mm Clear Acrylic.  The 6mm Clear acrylic is what you see here.  The top of the stool is supported by 4 ‘pillars’ with an additional 4 support beams for the 3mm materials.  The idea is to use monofilament wire to create multiple hyperboloid surfaces from top to bottom to create a ‘cool’ look.  Of course it helps that the monofilament I used is fluorescent and would glow under UV light 🙂

Can you count 4 hyperboloid surfaces?

The clear acrylic with pink monofilament example shown is a classic demonstration of the fact I’m slightly hopeless counting.  I had originally planned for 2 criss-crossed hyperboloid surfaces but due to a miscount I realized I screwed up on the first reverse weave.  Deciding to run with the mistake rather than going back to fix it I ended up with 4 hyperboloid surfaces, doesn’t look THAT bad… You can see the concentric ‘rings’ of each hyperboloid surface in the next photo.

Concentric circles look cool

A better selection of how many surfaces and curvature would improve the aesthetics greatly.  Its also rather big, would suit someone with a large bottom I suppose.  Overall not a bad experiment result though.

I’m looking forward to the Bamboo and Black Acrylic versions 😉  Really looking forward to taking a photo under UV light too!

6 thoughts on “Yippee 2 – Hyperboloid Stool (Preview)”

  1. my four-year old nephew asked me that when he saw it ” when you went to the furniture department?”

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