Just some FANTASTIC shots of the completed Version 2.0 by Jafe Parsons. Careful — you might get awesome on ya.
chimenea
CinderCone: Making V2, Part 2. /
With the fire basin pretty much finished, time to tackle the upper section - the place where all the magic happens. These faces are where the cutouts reveal the fire through a pattern of flowing, distorted hexagons - giving CinderCone its unique look.
CinderCone: Making V2.0 /
Now that I’ve figured out how to correct the issues that presented themselves in V1, it’s time to implement the changes. That means generating new patterns for the laser and having the improved design cut. I also went with slightly thicker material — 11 gauge instead of 12 — to provide a touch more rigidity. Let the games begin!
That’s the first half of the assembly for version 2. I’m really pleased at how the design is working out, and the new welding table not only makes things easier, but insures that the quality of my parts is top notch.
CinderCone: Back to the Drawing Board. /
With lessons learned from the first burn trial-by-fire (literally), I went back into my model on the computer and started implementing improvements. Chief among these was a way to stabilize the grill and a better system for attaching the top section to the fire basin. I also wanted to add in an ash door and a way to stiffen up the feet (they had a bit of lateral deflection happening, albeit slight. Might as well fix it while I’m fixing, right?)
CinderCone: First Burn. /
With the welding and sanding and bolting all finished up, it’s time to test this thing out. My dear friends Bruce and Cyndi volunteered their beautiful property on the lake for a test site, and, once a day with cooperative weather materialized, it was time.
What an amazing evening! Couldn’t have been happier with how the CinderCone performed — and the visual effect of the cut-out pattern when combined with the dancing flames was nothing short of spectacular. We stoked the flames MUCH more than required to have a nice fire in order to stress-test the design. Glad we did, as it revealed some structural shortcomings that would need to be addressed before offering these up for sale.
Metal may seem like a solid, stable material — one that you can rely on to hold its shape and remain true to itself under stress. In reality, it is subject to all kinds of movement when subjected to heat. These thermal stresses need to be countered to maintain the integrity of the object.
The aftermath of our stress test showed that the outer “shell” of the design handled these forces well — but the grill itself, directly in contact with the source of heat, needed some shoring up. Any welder can tell you that one only need curtail expansion and contraction throughout the heating cycle to minimize warping. The grill was allowed too much freedom in this design, and the forces went to work on it. I needed to do some redesigning, but thought I’d try to retrofit the V1.0 CinderCone before tackling V2.0.
So, although the overall design was a success, there are some structural details that need improving. Another sticking point was removal of the ash that accumulates beneath the grill. I’d thought that removing the top section and grill would be easy enough to access this area, but adding the longer brackets and their additional fasteners made that too big a hassle. This thing needs an ash clean-out door.
On to CinderCone Version 2!
CinderCone: How, Part 2. /
Now that the design and layout work is complete, and the laser has done its thing, the real work begins. Or the FUN, depending on your feelings about welding and sanding metal. The interesting thing about my process is just how much of the fit-up and fixturing is simplified by the earlier CAD work — there’s very little guesswork or problem solving left at this point. Photos below tells the story of assembling the first CinderCone prototype.
CinderCone: How. /
Once I decided I wanted to make a chimenea, it was time to address the “How?” I’ve spent 25 years slowly incorporating computer-aided design elements into my work, including patterns that are warped and deformed algorithmically. I had a vague idea of how I wanted the perforated pattern to look, but utilized the "mess with it 'til it looks good" method to arrive at a layout of hexagons, warped along a curving path. Not to get too far into the weeds, but that curving path acts as an attractor, deforming the hexes more strongly relative to their distance from it.
Since the humble hexagon was the seed for the pattern, I thought it appropriate to use it as the driving motif for the chimenea's main form, too. Given that there are some immutable constraints at play - scale, containing the fire, supporting the wood, channeling the smoke, etc. - much of the remaining design choices were just a matter of adjusting the form to allow for said constraints. I worked up the basic shape, then stuck an average-sized human into the scene to check the scale. The initial 40 inch height just felt too small when viewed in this context, so I added a foot. Ta Da!
Once I have the design finalized, I lay out all the parts as flat patterns for the laser cutter, then send them off to be cut.
CinderCone: A chimenea? /
So, I designed a chimenea. I’m calling it the “CinderCone.”
Why a chimenea?
(If your first question is, rather, "WHAT is a chimenea?" - Wikipedia is your friend!)
Have you seen 'em? Talk about homely! Their design is primarily driven by utility tempered by manufacturing cost - and even when some aesthetics are brought into play, like in the last example below, the result is awkward, clumsy, and, well - what the hell is that shiny brass cap doing on there? Yeesh.
I often look around at the objects we fill our lives with, and wonder if there isn't something better, something more designed and pleasing to the eye to be had. Given that our blind fealty to the baser tenets of capitalism has brought us to the brink of destroying the climate, it seems that finding not just prettier but more considered, hand-crafted items just might be a better way forward. I also really like the aesthetic and cultural experience of the small fire, it's power to enthrall us, bring us together, and transport us through time to a primal place of comfort and camaraderie as we huddle around its warmth. Add some computer-aided design and laser cutting to the mix, and you have a redolent, fiery nexus of the ancient and modern to help stave off the darkness with your friends and loved ones.
Plus, given that the corona virus torpedoed that screen project I spoke of in my last post, I was looking for something other than craft beer and mountain biking to keep me occupied.