Memorial Garden V
I mentioned that I redesigned the mould after I failed, and then I attempted to make a better version of translucent concrete in the last post, and I will highlight the process this time.
First, I change the design of boards with holes. I used thinner boards instead of thick ones to make the concrete de—mould easier, and optical fibres would not stick on them. Secondly, I used laser cutting to drill holes and they are more even than hand drilled. Moreover, I changed the diameter of the optical fibre I used from 1.5 mm to 1 mm and raised the density of them. In doing so, the translucent effect of concrete is more evident.
The concrete mould
I screwed boards together last time. However, in the second version, I carved slots on boards to slide thinner boards in. I hoped to disassemble the mould more easily and get better leakproofness in this way. More importantly, it would make pulling fibres through boards much more efficient.
The concrete mould
However, pulling fibre through boards was still time-consuming, and It took about two days to complete this. There were approximately 1200 fibres in the mould, consuming more than 300 meters of optical fibre.
Optical fibres in the mould
Optical fibres in the mould
After pouring the concrete inside the mould and waiting for it to dry, the next procedure was to cut the extra fibres. I used a chisel to do it and I found it wasted too many fibres in the process, only about less than half of the fibres used.
Cutting the extra fibres
The ultimate effect of this time was better than the first translucent concrete block. Even without artificial light, you can still see the shadow behind the block when you put it against sunlight.
Translucent concrete under the sunlight
Translucent concrete under the sunlight
