Oreo Clock

Intention

I haven't had a clock in my room ever since I had my first cell phone, because it doesn't seem necessary any more just for the purpose of telling time. If I were to keep a clock in my room, it would have to be special and interesting enough to me. 

Research & Context

[How does your outcome relate to other work in the field? What makes it similar or different to other objects of the same genre? How have other objects failed to solve the problem you have identified?]

The body of my clock is generally the same as the most generic clocks as it is round with the clock kit at the center. However, the engraving and layering design on my clock make it different from the others. I want it to resemble an actual Oreo cookie as much as possible, and I couldn't find this feature in any other clocks.

Sketch

[Include sketch with as much details as possible, like: approximate dimensions, materials, layers, textures, colors, and aesthetic influences.]

Aesthetic & Inspiration

[What influenced your design? Is there a specific style, art movement, or natural phenomena? Include at least one example. Can be a still image, video, or music.]

One day this semester I watched 8 Oreo tasting videos in a row on YouTube and started craving these cookies, and I realized this would be a fun concept for my first project, and the clock would definitely be an interesting element in my room.

Process & Procedure

[Outline your approach to the project. What steps did you take to design, model, sketch, and prototype this projects? What ideas did you generate and how did you refine or reject them? How did you use cutting, etching, scoring? What challenges were encountered and how did you resolve them? Include photos of prototypes, redesigned sketches, design worksheets, and failed trails.]

First of all, I traced the Oreo pattern using Fusion 360. This process took me much longer than expected, because Fusion 360 was extremely slow when there were too many objects in the same sketch. To optimize this process, I used creating circular pattern function instead of mirroring for the repetitive elements, so that Fusion would not freeze too often. 

Since an entirely black background would make it hard to tell time, I decided to cut twelve dots in red acrylic and stick them onto the clock body. I chose red because it is also the color of the clock hands.

As a part of my design, the clock would have three layers to resemble an actual Oreo cookie, and the thickness of three layers of acrylic might be too much for the clock kit. Therefore, I decided to cut out a house-like shape at the center of the two back layers to fit the clock kit. 

Another challenge with engraving is that my plan was not to engrave the selected objects, but the area surrounding the objects to create an "extrusion" feeling of the objects. To achieve this, I copied and pasted the outermost circle and set it to engraving in addition the one set to cutting. Before the actual 80-minute engraving, I first tested this technique on another piece of acrylic to make sure it would work the way I wanted.

[Two renderings on complete project styled with finished background, lighting, positioning, reflection]

[Five semi-professional photos with care given to context, lighting, staging, scene]

[Reflect on the process of making this project. What did you learn? What would you do differently?]

As someone who had no previous CAD modeling or laser-cutting experience, I learned a lot during the process of making this clock. 

First of all, I learned the importance of modeling efficiently - there are more than one ways to create the same pattern, and sometimes starting over and taking another path can actually save more time.

During modeling, I accidentally created a lot of open geometries which caused me a lot of troubles later. I will definitely be careful of this kind of mistakes in future sketching.

If I were to make a clock again, I would be more careful with the thickness measurements and calculations so that the clock arms would not be floating. I would also try to incorporate more original elements.