Full-Scale Model

On Tuesday I picked up the full-scale model from the fabricators. Due to the thickness of the steel I had to outsource the bending. If the metal had been thinner, I could have bent it myself. However, even with the thick steel the model was quite flexible and was not going to work on its own.


So I spent Wednesday and Thursday reinforcing the egdes to give it some rigidity. I did this by tacking a one-inch piece of flat-stock all along both edges. Initially, I was afraid the added material would take away from the simple outline and clean form I was wanting. I was pleased in the end though and the reinforcement was enough to provide strength but not to eliminate all of the movement.



After adding the flat-stock, the model was extremely heavy (not that it was light beforehand...). So for the final version, I am going to make it out of a much thinner gauge steel. With the reinforced edge, the thickness of the sheet should not matter as much. Plus, I will be able to bend it myself and save some money! It is a little bit of a gamble though since I can't really be sure how the steel will behave until I make it at the real scale. Additionally, I am going to change some of the dimensions and angles so that it will work with people of all different sizes (not just people with small feet!). I don't have much time to finish it up (the final version is due on Thursday afternoon). Hopefully, I will be able to pick up the material later today and get started welding this evening.