UPCYCLING By Elliot Whinnen s3488655
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CONTENTS 3 - Me & my ideas
4 - Upcycling & why?
5 - Love Hulten 7 - Cary42
8 - Pual Cocksedge 10 - The Vamp
11- Cardcade
12 - Bartop Cardcade
13 - PJ Evans
14 - Design ideas
15 - The essence of upcycling 16 - Sponsors
17 - Meet the community 18 - Shika_Arcades
19 - Projectceroarcade 20 - Let’s upcycle
21 - Materials
22 - The design
24 - The build
26 - Leaser etch & cut
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28 - Wiring 30 - Buttons
32 - Software
34 - Finishing touches
38 - The reveal
39 - 1up arcade reveal photos
46 - Reflection
ME & MY IDEAS inspirations.
Waste is accumulating and it can no longer be swept under the rug. E-waste in particular is an intimidating issue. Technology companies have promoted a culture of disposable devices by shortening product lifecycles of devices like smartphones and laptops causing rapid disposal and replacement of devices which should not be considered disposable. Designers have formed a response to combat the disposable culture dictated by technology companies and it is known as upcycling. In this publication you will be guided through how an interest in video games inspired a design which combats waste and proves that upcycling can be done by anyone. Over the summer holidays my inspiration for this project and publication began. I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan, and when in the Akihabara province of Tokyo City I completely immersed myself in arcade and retro video games as they play a huge part of the culture in the Akihabara area. I was introduced to the nostalgia which comes with the simplicity of retro and arcade games and when presented with this project I sort out a way in which everyone could re-live video game experiences from a simpler time.
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UPCYCLING & why?
The 21st century has seen a multitude of impressive inventions, designs and engineering which has pushed technology to new undiscovered limits. In 2005 the first gaming notebook WidowPC’s Sting 917X2 (Blass, 2018) was released, which would lead to the multimillion-dollar industry that is laptop gaming and constant revisions of the gaming laptop. June 11, 2007, Apple announced the first iPhone which would completely radicalise the concept of a phone and bring processing power never seen before to a handheld device. June 13, 2010 the first all LED flat screen was made forever changing the picture quality and form factor in which we enjoyed television. With all these fantastic feats of engineering prior technologies were overtaken, out-performed and ultimately left unwanted. Society became fascinated with bigger screens, smaller program chips and slimmer designs and it lead to the disposal of yesteryears technology at an astronomical rate. In the last 20 years the accumulation of E-waste has become an intimidating issue and a major cause is people are disposing of technology, which they believe to be obsolete, however with knowledge of the low-fidelity design technique of up cycling out-dated technology doesn’t mean obsolete technology. Up cycling is often considered as a process in which waste materials are converted into something of higher value and/or quality in their second life (Sung, 2015) and this is a process I will strive to emulate in my project. My field of research is into how technology labelled as obsolete by society can be up cycled into artefacts, which are relevant thereby removing the worthless connotations old electronics have and encouraging the minimization of
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E-waste sent to landfill. I aim to focus on turning old technology into functioning gaming devices in particular nostalgia rich arcade machines, which have grown in popularity due to their retro appeal. By creating appealing electronic artefacts from waste materials I intend to promote an up cycling culture thereby influencing wider society into questioning ‘does this item need to be sent to landfill, or can I repurpose it into something completely different?’ As I promote the value of predefined ‘obsolete’ items I also promote the activity of lo-fidelity design and for my design proposition to have a more significant effect I would ultimately aspire to create a culture of makers and designers that produce high quality artefacts from the waste of those that are uneducated to the true value of items. If I am to make a significant impact on society my product will have to be of a professional nature and completed to a high degree of quality as to motivate society to consider the intense benefits of up cycling. Benefits being reducing, or at least delaying, the addition of trash to our landfills (Anderson, 2009). Also the ability to turn costly disposal processes into product loops creating profits (Steinhilper & Hieber, 2001). In this task I will discuss other designers which have been able to achieve my goal such as Paul Cocksedge and PJ Evans who have repurposed old technology in different ways, both with goals of reinstating the value of ‘obsolete’ items.
LOVE HULTEN Swedish vintage tech designer.
Love Hulten is responsible for some truly remarkable work often displaying combination of traditional craftsmanship with current technologies. Hulten is based in Gothenburg, Sweden and has had many features in design exhibitions including 2016 Save the date, Palazzo Litta, Milan and 2015 Iam8bit gallery, Los Angeles. His work is of a quality which I intend to replicate and he companies this quality with a personal touch as each pieced is hand assembled by himself.
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CARY 42
Date: Dec 26, 2014 Location: SWE
A highly stylish briefcase arcade cabinet comprised of American Walnut designed by Love Hulten. This piece presents are far higher standard of design professionalism than most others found in the market. It doesn’t consist of upcycled electronics and the operating system used isn’t stated but I included it in market research as it shows the benchmark for mini arcade systems in terms of presentation and something which my product will aspire to emulate. The purpose of this piece is to enable for portable arcade gaming in a highly stylish package
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PUAL COCKSEDGE UK based designer
A very imaginative designer who’s studio was established in 2004. His general works are in the field of exhibition furniture design , however his work in 2013 on a device called The Vamp is extremely relevant to my field. This small minimalistic device enables modern smart phones to be connected to vintage speakers which would otherwise be unusable with modern technology platforms. In creating the Vamp Paul has completed my exact objective in this project, to give purpose to what most deem obsolete while also discouraging the throw out of outdated electronics, in his case vintage speakers.
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THE VAMP
& it’s relevance to upcycling
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To date, up cycling has been largely ignored as a serious contingent in effective design and waste management strategies (Richardson, 2018) as recycling was the prominent focus of sustainability efforts in the early 21st century. Due to this the practice of up cycling only exists at ground level (Richardson, 2018) meaning the market for up cycled products hasn’t been fully established. This became evident when evaluating the market of upcycled old electronic gaming devices, which at this stage is dominated by hobby level artefacts. There exists certain difficulties with trying to reuse out-dated technology as it is often heavier, larger and more power hungry then modern day equivalents. In response to this the precedents of designs at a professional level from up cycled electronics are somewhat limited however designer Paul Cocksedge has been able to overcome the difficulties and produce items, which explore up cycling and do it with professional aesthetics. Paul Cocksedge a prodigy of Ron Arad, has a contagious enthusiasm for his craft (Brewer,2011) and it mostly known for his lighting designs however his work in 2013 on a device called The Vamp is relevant to my field of inquiry. This small minimalistic device enables modern smartphones to be connected to vintage speakers, which would otherwise be unusable with modern technology platforms. In creating the Vamp Paul enables for the communication between vintage stereo systems and modern electronic devices thereby offering a whole
new life for waste materials (Shukriah Ali, Farhana Khairuddin, & Abidin, 2013). In creating this product Paul has expressed several design ideas which promote society to ‘see value where others don’t’ he also presents the idea that ‘old is not always bad and new is not always good.’ The design idea that society should ‘see the true value in waste’ is explored through Paul Cocksedge’s work as in his design process he clearly identified that value exists in vintage speakers and he set out to harness this value. He saw functioning devices with platform incompatibility issues instead of bulky out-dated speakers and centralized his design around resolving the incompatibility and reinstating the value of vintage speakers. Paul’s decision to design using obsolete technology presents the proposition to see value where others don’t and as a result he has encouraged the design tactic of up cycling. Cocksedge’s work designing the Vamp rather than a modern day Bluetooth speaker is a clear portrayal of the design idea that ‘old is not always bad and new is not always good.’ He disregarded the design tactic of producing a cutting edge, ultra slim, high powered speaker device and instead designed a device which celebrates the obsolete, bringing relevance, appeal and importance to out-dated speakers with expended life cycles. The Vamp shows how designers can bring value to items society have deemed valueless, encouraging the consideration of trash as treasure and the practice of up cycling.
CARDCADE design practitioner
A designer responsible for many arcade machine projects with a twist. CardCade’s motivations were to make arcade machines with affordability in mind and they achieved this by using recycled cardboard as the main material for the units. I got in contact with CardCade and deduced the following answers from them: Motivations: “To help everyday people afford arcade machines which are usually luxury items and not attainable for all.” Reasons for start-up: “I started doing this because I myself couldn’t afford an arcade cabinet and I work in package design giving me access to a wealth of recycled cardboard.” Difficulties discovered: “I have had some trouble sourcing electronics at a price and quality which i see as reasonable” Design most proud of: “Bartop Cardcade. The works of the designer behind the CardCade collective are very relevant to my project as he is able to create a product of high quality from disposed materials being old packaging cardboard.
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BARTOP CARDCADE precedent from Cardcade
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PJ EVANS The Ipad arcade
A project which embodies the same idea as Paul Cocksedge’ Vamp but expresses it differently is a device by maker PJ Evans. On December 5th, 2017 Evans created a mini bartop arcade machine from the LCD of a dead apple iPad and a Linux based single board computer called a raspberry pi. The inspiration for the build came as he noticed he had an iPad lying around (Evans, 2017). This is interesting as over 350 million iPads have been sold since 2010 (Statista, 2018) and coupling this with the claims of planned obsolescence (Keeble, 2013) against apple products, the result is an abundance of iPads which have prematurely expended their product lifespan. This means that there is optimum access to viable up cycling materials and everyday people can take advantage of this. Evans is not a designer and as a result of this his work on the Apple arcade is not of high quality but his message is impactful and it is one in which I intend to spread. This precedent shows how anyone can up cycle and by recognizing that just because a product has completed its initial life cycle does not mean it should be discarded, but rather it should be repurposed into functioning devices like mini arcade machines.
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design ideas
A discussion of the design ideas related to the design tactic of upcycling .
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THE ESSENCE OF UPCYCLING
from trash to treasure & the true value of items.
It is necessary for upcyclers to see trash where others see treasure. This is a design idea presented in the works of Pual Cocksedge on the Vamp device. Acting out this design idea allows designers to create new ideas from old materials and reach new market gaps. It is often extremely economical to turn trash to treasure and it is a vital tool in the material selection process of an upcycling designer. “How can this discarded laptop (trash) be turned into something useful again (treasure)? “
SHATTERING STIGMAS
“new is always good, old is always bad.”
As newer designs come out previous ones are left unwanted, receiving labels of useless and worthless. However just because a technological device has been succeeded by a newer model doesnt mean the original is obsolete ot bad. There is a market gap for designers that design for the “old” rather than common design practice aimed at pushing the “new” further. If we recognize that there exists value in old items or designs which revive old technology there is large possibility of creating a unique and successful design. This can be seen by the work of Pual Cocksedge. He disregarded the design tactic of producing a cutting edge, ultra slim, high powered speaker device and instead designed a device which celebrates the obsolete, bringing relevance, appeal and importance to out-dated speakers with expended life cycles. He confirmed that “old” can be relevant, appealing and “good” again by use of upcycling.
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SPONSORS forming partnerships.
This project and publication were sponsored by Christian Cole furniture Coburg. I visited Christian Cole’s workshop to enquire about gathering some plywood offcuts as I had seen his featured works before and was attracted to the layering of ply the company uses. I conversed with owner Christian Cole about working with the material and best machining practices. He was very willing to help and was supportive of the notion to up cycled obsolete materials into a new and exciting projects. So much so that he provided me with several sheets of high quality plywood offcuts for my project free of charge, ultimately making him a key sponsor of this project. Further to this he informed me of the best way to seal the plywood post manufacturing to assure a long shelf life and reduce chipping and staining of the material from hands or other contaminants. I instruct you to visit his workshop and browse his showroom as the work they complete with plywood is very inspirational, and was ultimately what convinced me to use layered plywood as a material for my project.
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MEET THE COMMUNITY instagram accounts.
Social media was designed as a fun platform to connect with those that we aren’t always around, but it has developed into a platform which businesses’ rely upon heavily for success. Social media is used for marketing, networking and job advertisement and if you are trying to familiarise yourself with the upcycling movement then social media is a fantastic place to start. Utilizing the correct Instagram hash tags you can be introduced to masses of content relevant to your field. There is an established do it yourself arcade community on instagram and followers can observe projects being performed and documented at varying degrees of difficulty and sophistication. Viewers can take inspiration from the DIY arcade projects they see and then recreate them using upcycled materials, I have conducted an evaluation of many instagram accounts and have curated two of the most influential follows to engulf the viewer in the field.
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SHIKA_ARCADES Made in UK inspired by Japan.
I N V O LV E S U P C YC L I N G : N O P U R P O S E O F F O L LOW: I N S P O
Produces some extremely high quality arcade fight sticks to be used with retro gaming consoles. A testament to the quality that can be achieved when making an arcade gaming device, utilizes laser engraved walnut sheets and CNC turned aluminium. Helpful for an aesthetic benchmark to aim for when creating arcade machines or fight sticks.
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PROJECTCEROARCADE
High quality miniature arcade machines.
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I N V O LV E S U P C YC L I N G : N O P U R P O S E O F F O L LOW: I N S P O
Produces mini bar top arcades which appear professionally manufactured. A helpful follow as it will give you several ideas about the form and different screen orientations have. Another account which will provide inspirations as the projects featured are of high quality but could definitely be replicated using upcycled materials and components.
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Let’s
upcycle
follow the processes of how I attempt to bring relevance to obsolete technology by creating an arcade machine .
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MATERIALS & how I gathered them.
My first step of the build involved the gathering of materials. Due to the excessive rate we buy, use and dispose of electronics the necessary components for my build where easily come across. Upon messaging a group of family members I was able to acquire an old 13-inch laptop as well as a miniature speaker, which were all destined for hard rubbish. With the up cycled componentry sorted I needed to gather materials for the construction of the artefact to house the components. I went to a local furniture manufacturer and was provided with three 12 mm thick sheets of birch plywood. The sheets were scraps, they had minor blemishes and markings but were also too small to be used by the furniture maker, deeming them waste and therefore making them perfect for my up cycled arcade machine. My intentions were for the device to be constructed from as many repurposed
parts as possible however due to the fact that the device would be a functioning game machine, there were areas in which new components had to be purchased. The purchased components included a Raspberry pi 3 mini computer, this device would runs an operating system called Retropie which allows for the emulation of thousands of retro and arcade games. Next was a driver board for the screen, due to the time restrictions and difficulty of salvaging driver componentry from the original laptop motherboard a separate driver required purchase from eBay. The last significant purchase was the joystick, buttons and controller board. These were also purchased from eBay and allow the Raspberry pi to detect buttons presses and translate them to controls in games. Other purchases included, wires, tubing, rubber stoppers and connecter jacks.
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THE DESIGN CAD Processes.
In order to satisfy my objectives the device would need to appear professionally made and be impressive enough for viewers to want to up cycle after learning the origins of the arcade’s materials. In order to reach the level of detail I aimed for, the unit was designed as a 3D model in the CAD program Solidworks with the intentions of CNC routering the end product.
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IN ORDER TO L ASER CUT OR ETC H A 2D DXF FILE M U S T B E C R E AT E D A N D P R O G R A M M E D I N T O A M A C H I N E . D E P T H O F C U T , H E AT O F L A S E R A N D S P E E D A R E A L L PA R A M E T E R S W H I C H A R E V I TA L .
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THE DESIGN Laser cutting and etching.
I also wanted to familiarise myself with the processes of laser cutting throughout this project and I contacted RMIT’s laser service and became educated on the matter. By the use of laser cutting plastic marquees could be perfectly cut around the wooden structure providing a seamless transition between the two materials and replicating a plastic mounting face which many arcades have to house buttons and joystick. Further to this I was able to etch labels into the plywood with the name of the unit, its creator and various button lables such as start, select and power. The etched lettering and logo really add to the professionally made appeal and confirm that with effort obsolete materials can be easily turned into ones of value.
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THE BUILD CNC router process.
The first step of the physical build involved laminating the three plywood sheets together to achieve a thickness of approximately 40mm. The layres were coated in glue and clamped together. The result was handed to the CNC technician Matty who was able to program the Solidworks file I gave him into the CNC machine. What I received back was something dimensionally accurate, aesthetically pleasing and appeared far from upcycled.
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T H E ROV E R A BY B I E S S E I S A 5 A X I S C N C M AC H I N E C A PA B L E O F C U T T I N G VA R I O U S M AT E R I A L S I N C L U D I N G F O A M , P L A S T I C S A N D WO O D .
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LASER ETCH & CUT a professional touch.
I provided the RMIT CNC Laser service with my .dxf files and was able to have the faceplate and screen bezel cut in perfect detail from 2mm clear acrylic. Also I was able to have my labels etched into the borders of the plywood structure in the exact positions, size and font of my choice. I chose to use the slanted font of the popular 80s gaming console the Super Nintendo.
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AFTER ETC HIN G THE UNIT WA S C U T I N T O T W O P E I C E S TO A L LOW F OR M U LT I P L E G A M I N G A N G L E S (WILL BE EXPL AINED L AT E R ) .
T H E AC RYC L I C S C R E E N BEZEL AND BUTTON FA C E P L AT E W H I C H F I R S T D I R E C T LY I N T O T H E E N G R AV E D S L O T S O F T H E P LY W O O D C A S E C A N B E SEEN TO THE RIGHT.
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WIRING.
cables, connectors and sleeving.
There is an extensive amount of wiring in this project and I will roughly outline what is needed in order for the device to function. As the case is now separated into halves a cable needs to be run between the two halves. This cable needed to house 13 wires. 8 of these required for 2 usb cables to transfer the data from the arcade controller board to the mini computer and the other usb to power the mini speaker housed in the lower part of the case. Another 3 wires were required for the audio of the speaker and finally some much thicker wire was used to run power from the bottom half of the case to the main part, powering the screen and mini computer. This collection of wires were braided and sleeved in some paracord sleeving (outer sleeve of a rope) to give a more pleasant aesthetic.
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A B O V E S H O W S T H E P R O C E S S F R O M S TA R T TO FINISH. THE TOP LEFT DEPICTS THE WIRE W H I C H WA S T H E N B R A I D E D , TA P E D A N D SLEEVED TO THE FINAL PRODUCT SEEN I M M E A D I AT E LY A B O V E .
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BUTTONS.
buttons, connectors and more cables.
The remaining wiring included wiring all the buttons and the joystick to the USB controller board, wiring the speaker and wiring the power jack. There were 12 buttons to wire up which fed to the controller board pictured right. The controller board was then wired to the usb cable running through the paracord sleeving. The 12v socket jack was wired and had two wires which would provide power to the screen also travelling through the paracord sleeving.
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SOFTWARE setting up and testing the system.
Next it was time to test the software. I am running the system Retropie which is a collection of retro video game emulators collected together and optimized to run on a single board computer such as the Raspberry Pi (Seen to the left). The Raspberry Pi feeds a hdmi signal out to the laptop LCD driver board and is the device which stores and runs the games, dictates the audio and receives the controls.
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SEEN TO THE LEFT IS THE R A S P B E R RY P I CO N N E C T I N G TO T H E LC D D R I V E R W H I C H CONNECTS TO THE SCREEN . ALSO THERE IS A PINOUT OF SCREEN CONTROL BUTTONS AT TAT C H E D T O T H E D R I V E R A L LOW I N G TO C H A N G E T H E BRIGHTNESS AND OTHER SETTINGS.
T H E S Y S T E M WA S T E S T E D USING MARIO KART 64 AND I T W O R K S P E R F E C T LY.
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FINISHING TOUCHES
drilling, sanding and gluing to finish the device.
With the system confirmed working all the final touches had to be completed. These included mounting rubber feet and magnets to keep the two halves together. I installed 2 usb ports at the bottom of the unit allowing for transfer of games via usb and for additional players. The paracord was fed through the main bit of the case and all the usbs, audio and power connections were wired up. The Raspberry Pi, LCD driver and various cables were also fixed and mounted in the case. Next the case was sanded filler and finishing oil was applied to toughen the plywood. The final step involved printing off artwork to stick onto the plastic panels and the 1up arcade was born.
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FINISHING TOUCHES making the stands.
In order for the system to be tilted on the optimum angle for gaming little kick stands needed to be fabricated and installed. These were made from brass sample pieces and were drilled, cut and polished before being mounted.
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the
reveal
the final product. An attempt to bring relevance to obsolete technology in creation of the 1up arcade machine.
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REFLECTION
did I achieve my research proposition?
I Ultimately I proved through this project that obsolete technology can be repurposed into valuable items by the adoption of a well though out design and manufacturing plan. Also I believe due to how well the project has turned out, when viewers are informed that it is in fact for the most part from up cycled materials and componentry they will be motivated to do an up cycling project of their own, thus reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. The device was named the 1Up Arcade paying homage to arguably the most iconic video game series Mario Bros. When a player in Mario collects a green 1up mushroom they are awarded another life, and as my objective of the project was to award another life to obsolete technology, I saw it a fitting name. Further to this the green mushroom has been used as the logo for the device and it can be seen etched into the upper left hand corner. The device is able to fit in backpacks, has adjustable screen orientations and has ergonomically situated buttons and joystick and it is finished with great precision. In response to the previous statements I believe the device truly reaches a gap the market of up cycled electronics and DIY arcade machines. I also believe it is inspiring enough to prompt society to pay greater attention to the up cycling movement, hopefully adopting it as a design tactic for themselves. As up cycling grows waste accumulation diminishes and up cyclers are able to turn obsolete technology into beautiful arcade machines.
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