First Prototype

This week, i focused on how to make my first prototype come to reality using a laser cutter, a saw and some wood/wood pieces. I got this piece of wood (see image 1) from the Maker's club, which i decided to use for my first prototype. After the first couple of preliminary sketches, I settled to make the first prototype out of wood as it is much steadier than cardboard or paper. I initially drew the area i wanted to cut out of the piece of wood to create an opening where the knitted yarn would feed through as the pattern was being created.
Image 1 with marked dimension of cut out.





Using the laser cutter, i marked this area on corel draw to be cut out and also the small cut outs that were to be made on each side of the board, including the upper and bottom corners. (See image below to review original sketch on illustrator).






After cutting out the marked area of the wood, the laser cutter was also used to cut the small markings on each side of the wood and at the upper and bottom sides. (See image below)

As can be seen here, the wood has a cut out in the middle, (the cut out is about 1.5 inches away from the edge of the wood, the dowels are exactly 1 inch away from each other) the little cut outs have been made on each side of the wood and at the upper and bottom sides.



At this point, the pieces of dowel were inserted into the grooves but i soon noticed that they were not snug enough. Knitting on an unsteady board could lead to faulty patterns and could make knitting very frustrating. Because of this, i decided to use wood glue to secure the dowels.













The result look like this
Result of first prototype (cut out with pins inserted) and ready for first trial of knitting!












Initially, i did the knitting with a piece of elastic string which was not only difficult but kept slipping of the inserted dowels. Right then and there i discovered my very first iteration, that the next prototype has to include and the edge of the dowels a form of stoppage that helps the yarn stay onto the the knitting board. The image can be seen below.
At this point it is hard to see the pattern because i am using elastic cord. The next examples and trial will be with real yarn.