Möbius Strip Fabrication

by Tuğrul Yazar | October 31, 2012 12:11

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The Möbius strip[2] is a famous mathematical object. Although being in three-dimensional space, it is a closed-loop of only one surface and only one edge. This quality alone makes the object an interesting study for computational design. I aimed to create an object to test our new CNC machine. I wanted to test the egg-crate interlocking fabrication method. This is why the study became a Möbius strip fabrication. Apart from its uses in science and technology, here is an interesting fact about the stripe from Wikipedia:

The universal recycling symbol[3] (♲) design has its three arrows forming a Möbius loop. According to its designer Gary Anderson[4], “the figure was designed as a Mobius strip to symbolize continuity within a finite entity”.

First, experimented with the regular egg-crate definition (explained here and here) from the last year. I chose the Möbius strip as the underlying surface. Because I experimented with that here and here before. However, Fulya warned me about their weak relationship. So I’ll work on a more conformal egg-crate definition in order to match the properties of a Möbius surface. This is my first experiment, just triangular sections twisting and turning. I will add the interlocking detail to make this a static object. But this seems to be a bit of a challenge if I don’t want to lose the curvatures of the stripe. Here is the Grasshopper file:

The Grasshopper definition is a bit old. But it is still working in 2021. You can animate it by using the Number Slider. That is it for now. Unfortunately, this is an abandoned project for now. I hope to finish the Grasshopper definition and finalize the Möbius strip fabrication in the future.

Source URL: https://www.designcoding.net/mobius-strip-fabrication/

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