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OTHER The Maker Magazine Designs / Ideas / Lifestyle / People
The Inside Scoop
Table of Contents
Table of
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Breaking Away From Tradition
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Because Wood.
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The Co-Design Process – Flad Architects
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Insomniac Games
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Quality Control
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Ancillary Spotlight – RAD Furniture
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Digital Tools Open Opportunities for Innovation in the Custom Furniture Industry
Design Challenge
Breaking Away From Tradition – Table Legs
Bre aking Away From Tradition 4
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A Los Angeles-based company requested a unique desk design that would stand out from the sea of traditional workstations. They wanted to place a greater emphasis on aesthetics and avoid the standard power beam or pin wheel design for wire management in a workstation pack. Studio Other was put to the test to create a unique but functional design. The company collaborated closely with Studio Other to explore various options, eventually landing on an angled leg design that exceeded all expectations.
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Design Challenge
Breaking Away From Tradition – Angled Leg Base
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T H E CH A L L EN GE Height-adjustable desk legs have looked almost the same since the inception of sit-to-stand desks. While legs often play the role of the forgotten utilitarian piece, we at Studio Other believe a good design takes every detail into consideration. However, the largest challenge of modifying the design of a height-adjustable desk leg is the telescoping column—a functional aspect that cannot be altered. Therefore, we asked ourselves the following questions: How do we provide our clients a unique and distinctive design that successfully breaks away from the traditional workstation T-foot, L-foot, and C-foot leg designs? How do we design and engineer a leg that will maintain the weight of a standard desk, either seated or standing, while still concealing the wires through the desk itself?
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Design Challenge
Breaking Away From Tradition – Angled Leg Base
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THE S O LUTI O N Studio Other closely studied the counterbalance of leg placement and designed a steel V-leg that maintains the integrity of the workstation aesthetic and establishes a more open feel in the space that it occupies. In response to the challenge of the telescoping column, the team encapsulated the column with a structural sleeve. This allowed us to create several variations of unique angled and radiused designs to support the leg while moving away from the traditional C or T style.
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This adjustable table design stands as the primary architectural detail and design element among a landscape of workstations. Ultimately, the new angled leg design overthrows the height-adjustable archetype while providing an engineering solution for weight distribution. These fully designed solutions achieve a level of flexibility unmatched by traditional desking, setting a new precedent for sit-to-stand workstation design.
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Culture Spotlight
Because Wood. – Jason Betty
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Because wood. JAS O N B ETTY
Culture Spotlight
Because Wood. – Jason Betty
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Meet Jason Betty, this is a casual work day. Betty is a Sr. Industrial Engineer within the Studio Other Team. His passion to create is what initially led him to Studio Other, and what continues to drive his hobbies outside of the office. Currently, you’ll find him busy making hand-strung art and custom cutting boards using recycled leftover materials from Studio Other projects. Beyond art-related interests, Betty loves camping, anything involving nature and costume contests.
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Culture Spotlight
Because Wood. – Jason Betty
What’s your name? Jason Betty
board depending on the design complexity.
oil off and the cutting board is complete.
Passion project name? Custom Cutting Boards
What materials are used? I use a wide variety of both exotic and domestical natural woods — from hard maple and walnut, to canary wood and African padauk — to give the pieces a splash of color.
What was the greatest obstacle in the process and how did you overcome it? Designs that require multiple glue ups, where you connect different types of wood, are the most difficult because it can be tricky to line all the seams up correctly. I’ve found that the best ways to avoid mistakes are to make sure your parts are cleanly cut and to pay very close attention during the gluing process. A steady hand and attention to detail can go a long way.
How would you describe your designs? While the designs of my cutting boards are traditional in shape, my priority is to enhance the wood’s natural features and intricacies with careful treatments. Additionally, I like to play with colorful elements and unique edging designs to give personality without compromising functionality. What or who was your inspiration for this project? The wood itself. Simply put, I cut and piece the wood together in various ways until a specific design speaks to me. How long does it take to build a cutting board? About four working hours per
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What’s your building process? I first cut the raw lumber into the desired sizes for the design, then I glue and clamp the parts together. Once dry, I sand and plane the boards until they’re perfectly smooth and flat, adding edge details as desired. Then I raise the grain with a wet cloth and re-sand the board. Using a cotton cloth, I apply mineral oil to both sides, let it rest for 20 min, and reapply two more times to “season” the board. Mineral oil provides a natural moisture to the grain that prevents it from drying out and cracking. Additionally, it helps to increase wood’s natural antibacterial qualities and its resistance to water. Finally, I wipe any access
Any additional or unique information about the project we should know? I recently made an extendable and foldable version that is meant to act as a cutting board in the kitchen of a converted van. I was able to successfully build this design by using shelf drawer slides and adding hinges on the bottom side of the cutting board.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SoBayHandmade
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Adaptive Bio Technologies
The Co-Design Process – Flad Architects
“The value of a space is not just found in the architecture, but also the objects that occupy the space.”
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The Co-Design Process
– Flad Architects
Adaptive Bio Technologies
The Co-Design Process – Flad Architects
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THE CO-DESIGN PROCESS Studio Other’s relationship with Flad Architects began six years ago while collaborating on a project for Juno Therapeutics in Seattle, Washington. After the conclusion of the product, Mitchel Zelinger, Studio Other Executive Vice President, continued to maintain a steady relationship with Ben de Rubertis and David Black, Flad Principals. Last June, Ben reached out with a request for us to participate in the co-design of a health kiosk for a new client, which we quickly jumped on and helped develop. Following the success of the supposed one-off project, Westlake Consulting, the Project Manager on the Juno project, reached out on behalf of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a pioneer and leader in immune-driven medicine that aims to improve people’s lives by learning from the wisdom of their adaptive immune systems. Adaptive was planning to move into their new Seattle headquarters and Studio was engaged to help design the new workstations and private offices. Our team was asked to produce a prototype of the original bid design within 4 weeks. We kicked off this endeavor with a live co-design session with Ben, where we picked his brain about the intricacies of Adaptive core technologies, and the forms and shapes associated with their brand, which Ben was using as the primary inspiration for the architecture. This kicked off six weeks of weekly live Sketchup brainstorming sessions. Because of our comfortable relationship with Ben, these sessions were free of constraints and formalities, allowing us all to lose ourselves in old-school design session. 18
Initial Concept
What we find special about working with the architects and designers at Flad is that they value our role as industrial designers to create a true and safe partnership. They understand that the value of a space is not just found in the architecture, but also the objects that occupy the space. This allowed for a safe space that cultivated true innovative collaboration. During this time, we worked hand-in-hand with Flad, leaving each session with new developments to work through on our own time so that
we could then present a polished presentation to the client. Our initial concept was a typical benching solution that serves the needs of many people. However, Ben was vital in helping us understand who Adaptive Bio is, what makes them unique, and how they work. Through these conversations, we came to understand the company to have an inclusive culture that celebrates all ethnicities, genders and lifestyles, with their mantra being, “Bring your whole self to work.” This left us with the question: How do we make a space that lets them do their best work but also makes them feel comfortable to express themselves? This is where we began
incorporating identifying characteristics into our design, including nameplates to allow for personal ownership.
and used similar inspiration for our workstations by integrating the unique angles into our own design.
Additionally, Adaptive Bio’s technology involves removing T-cells from your body, adding beneficial elements, then reinjecting them to help treat cancer. Ben had been inspired by the angles of T-cells themselves and was incorporating similar traits into the architecture. We were equally intrigued by the cell’s form
Once we all agreed on a design, we built a prototype and shipped it up to Seattle. Adaptive Bio then organized a two-day session with every department head and one or two users from each department. Because of their inherently inclusive culture, they wanted to ensure everyone had a voice and felt the
space was theirs, not just the people at the top. In the time spent with them, we would walk through the design and ask them questions about their specific needs and what they hoped to accomplish. We then took their feedback and displayed it on a post-it note board so that their ideas would be equally reflected. This process helped us learn what worked and what didn’t work about our design, so that we could best define what was important to Adaptive.
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Adaptive Bio Technologies
The Co-Design Process – Flad Architects
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Original design for Boardroom concept
Eventually, a codesigned prototype was agreed upon by all teams. Additionally, because we thoroughly understand the vision of the project, Adaptive came back with even more product requests to co-design with Flad, including a boardroom table, the reception desk and an all-hands table. These projects began with a significant budget that allowed us to design at our full creative capacity, free from the typical financial constraints. However, we then found out the budget was cut in half, so we had to immediately pivot and come up with a innovative solution to maintain an elevated design that the team had already fallen in love with, while drastically reducing the cost. Studio Other relies on our suppliers to help us reach our design goals and adjust the design to match the budget, and this time was no exception. Because of our 20-year relationship with Valentine Woodworks, they were able to help us get there, and the Adaptive Bio team was thrilled with the result. Today, Studio Other is in the process of working on shop drawings and final details, using Flad and Adaptive’s vision for the furniture to stand as an ohmage to craft and building. Adaptive is located on Lake Union, which is known for boat building, so the furniture designs speak to the city’s rich history. We look forward to seeing this innovative project to completion and continuing our relationships with our partners and client for years to come. 20
“...inspired by the angles of T-cells themselves and was incorporating similar traits into the architecture. We were equally intrigued by the cell’s form and used similar inspiration for our workstations by integrating the unique angles into our own design.” BEN DE RUBERTIS Principal, Flad Architects
Value engineered version of Boardroom
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Cool Sh*t
Drawing of DTLA Showroom By – Nicole Zywiec, Industrial Designer
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Featured Project
Insomniac Games
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F E ATURED PROJECT In August 2019, Studio Other partnered with Los Angeles architecture firm, JK & Co formally known as OKB, to create a custom workspace for Burbank-based gaming company, Insomniac Games.
Featured Project
Insomniac Games
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I NS OMNIAC GAMES Insomniac Games currently occupies the top floor of the Media Studios complex, but recently expanded their headquarters by an additional 11,500 square feet with a renovation, rebrand and new build-out on the fourth and fifth floor as well. The expanded space accommodates Insomniac’s growing workforce and embraces their welcoming and collaborative culture, reinforcing its evolution from a startup to a mature and thriving video game developer.
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Because this was a refresh to their existing office suite, the company required a full set of workstations and private office furniture. Studio
Other worked in collaboration with JK & Co and Insomniac Games to create a comprehensive concept for 270 workstations and 15 private offices that would achieve an eclectic and modern office true to their brand. The height-adjustable workstations feature white laminate surfaces and include light blue, cobalt and teal felt surrounds and black powder coated steel built-in storage units. This system was designed to meet the unique user needs to accommodate specialty equipment requirements and large computer screens. Desiring an open look and feel while maintaining privacy, Studio designed some workstations with
higher panels to achieve design requirements set forth by Insomniac. In contrast to the workstations, private office desks were crafted with each user’s unique needs in mind. The desks feature teal powder coated steel bases and heightadjustable oak laminate surfaces. The storage solution continued the steel and wood theme with a distinctive hutch design that showcases personal items. The end result was an eclectic, yet clean and modern space that honors its startup roots while embodying its current brand and culture. 27
Cool Sh*t
Featured Project – Insomniac Games
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The end result was an eclectic, yet clean and modern space that honors its startup roots while embodying its current brand and culture. 29
Manufacturing
Quality Control – Stephanie Bonilla
Quality Control STE PH ANIE BO NIL L A
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Manufacturing
Quality Control – Stephanie Bonilla
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Meet Stephanie Bonilla, she means business. Stephanie is the Operations Manager within the Studio Other team. Her favorite aspects of her job are collaborating with amazing people and seeing initial design inspiration turned into reality. On the weekends, you’ll find Stephanie spending time with her family and occasionally adding to her tattoo collection.
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Manufacturing
What’s the best part about working for Studio Other? I love the people I work with. They have become more of a family and not just coworkers — I even had two tables reserved for them at my wedding. What do you most enjoy about your specific role? I love ensuring everything goes smoothly at the installs. I enjoy making clients happy and seeing them walk the space once their installation is complete. When I have a project that goes smoothly and has zero punch items, it is the best feeling in the world. Why is quality control important to the overall process? QC is probably one of the most important parts of our process because delivering a perfect product begins with QC. We have a very strict QC standard for all of our product, so we take the time to inspect every item and make sure they are all in perfect condition. If product does not meet our standards, then we do
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Quality Control – Stephanie Bonilla
not ship it. We also take our pack out very seriously — I pride myself in knowing that we ship product properly packed that allows for little to no freight claims. Can you walk us through the quality control process at Studio Other? We begin the process by carefully inspecting each panel so that it passes our quality control check. We look for the following: • • • •
Finish quality of powder coat Welds Felt quality Overall fit and finish
We then assemble the felt panels into the shell and individually wrap all of the panels. Lastly, we place all of the panels on pallets, secure, and build the crate. The products are now ready to ship to our clients for install. What has been the biggest quality control challenge and how did you overcome it? Our biggest challenge has been
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standardizing the QC product checklist. My team has spent a lot of time coming up with a rigorous checklist that each piece must pass in order to ship out to our clients. We are constantly striving to improve our product and are only improving with every project. What is your favorite project you’ve worked on and why? My favorite project to work on was Live Nation. I worked closely on that project from the very beginning to the hand-off to the client at the very end, and I was on the job site at least once a week or more making sure that everything was going flawlessly. Seeing a project go from sending POs to vendors, to QCing product at our warehouse, to loading on our trucks and offloading onsite and to being fully installed was an amazing process. This project included over 100 private offices and almost 500 workstations, and yet our punch was very minimal. To know that we finished a project without any major issues was a huge accomplishment.
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Ancillary Spotlight
RAD Furniture
Ancillary Spotlight “We worked with the RAD team on a series of outdoor tables and chairs for the Patagonia HQ, and RAD went above-andbeyond on this project. From sourcing sustainably-harvested outdoor woods, to extensively researching and presenting on their process and supply chain, to actually creating a few prototypes, they helped our team create the best experience for the client.” Mary Moen Design Consultant
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Ancillary Spotlight
RAD Furniture
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RAD is a Los Angeles-based studio that designs and manufactures uncomplicated indoor and outdoor pieces that are built to last. Their intention is simple: to make better furniture.
While RAD was founded on the premise of having a standard production line, it’s impossible to launch one out of thin air. The precedent was set early that custom work was not only necessary to stay in business, but was also an opportunity for design innovation and client development that could feed back into the production line. In this regard, they have not only changed over the last 11 years, but rather evolved. When the team opened RAD in 2010, their earliest clients were family and friends. The needs of these clients defined their approach, their designs, and ultimately, their community-driven ethos. Today, RAD’s clients range from local coffee shops to global businesses, and though they’ve grown and evolved, their roots are very much the same: creating uncomplicated, customizable designs that are timeless, built to last, and made right here in Frogtown.
The indoor/outdoor Square Lounge series is all about details. Self-draining cushions — upholstered in a soft-to-the-touch, stain-repellent outdoor upholstery by Sunbrella — sit on a frame of 100% welded steel that is weighty enough to stay put when used on a roof or patio. The Square Lounge series includes six pieces that can stand alone or be used as a set: the Medium Sofa, the Large Sofa, the Ottoman, the Chaise, the Lounge Chair, and the Sectional.
RAD Square Sofa Medium 38
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Ancillary Spotlight
RAD Furniture
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With a higher, more upright sit, the Signature Lounge Chair is ideal for residential and public settings alike. Wide bands of steel ensure comfort, and 1” steel tube legs offer a stable support when transitioning from sitting to standing. The Signature Lounge Chair is also available in slatted wood, and may be outfitted with boltable feet upon request. RAD Signature Lounge Chair Large
RAD Radius Table
The refined playfulness of the Radius collection is amplified or subdued by a variety of available powder coat colors, including “New Blue” and “Sage.” Finished with a powder coated steel or solid Ash top and built with 3” round steel tube legs, the Radius Table comes in dining, counter, or bar height, and seamlessly pairs with the Radius Bench and Radius Stool.
RAD Radius Coffee Table
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Press Release
Digital Tools Open Opportunities for Innovation in the Custom Furniture Industry
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Digital Tools Open Opportunities For Innovation in the Custom Furniture Industry
Studio Other is made up of a diverse group of creatives, makers and builders who value the art of craftsmanship both within and beyond their job description. In the time spent outside of the office, you’ll find many of our people working on their artistic endeavors, crafting primarily with their hands and using various mediums. In what feels like a lifetime ago, our team was working on Studio Other projects in a similar manner, drawing up sketches on pen and paper and presenting every idea and revision in person. While there’s certainly a level of nostalgic appeal in using analog methods, the bottom line is that they allowed for slow turnaround, inefficient manufacturing and room for error. 43
Press Release
Custom Furniture Industry – Digital Tools Innovating the Industry of Custom Furniture
Over the years, we’ve added technological programs and advances to our collection and in turn, we’ve watched our business grow and improve substantially. In fact, we utilize technology at every step of the co:design process, as it improves our communication, efficiency and, ultimately, innovation.
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_Design SketchUp is imperative to the initial co:design process because it allows our design engineers, partners and clients to create and modify designs live and simultaneously. This means that we can iterate 3D sketches live with our clients, allowing the real-time conversation to lead the creative process. Before SketchUp, we would draw out sketches using pen and paper, schedule an inperson meeting, receive feedback, make modifications, send it back and repeat. Now that we’ve done away with the clunky back-and-forth of hand-drawn sketches, we’ve reduced the time spent at this step from one week to two hours. And possibly most importantly, the increase in client engagement and hands-on, direct feedback throughout the creative process has led to invaluable relationships that last well beyond the initial project.
_Sourcing Because every part is manufactured from a SolidWorks file, we have the opportunity to use several different manufacturers to get the same part. This is an important capability from the client’s standpoint because we can massively cut down the turnaround time by spreading the quantity of pieces needed over several manufacturers to scale up and complete the process quicker.
_Engineering Prior to technological advances, we relied on attention-to-detail, guesswork and rounds of revisions to prepare product for manufacturing. Today, SolidWorks, a 3D engineering software, allows our engineers to take our SketchUp model, convert them to Solidwdorks parts and prepare it for production by analyzing structure, tolerance and exact sheet yields. Because all 3D solids are parametrically linked to drawings and automatically update, the verification process is seamless and 100% accurate. Years ago, we would draw every part in 3D in AutoCAD. Today, all parts are fabricated from a .DXF or .DWG file that originates from the complete SolidWorks assembly. The program allows us to build each separate part both individually and all together. This is extremely valuable because if we need to update one part, the program will build and reload it into the assembly to allow us to preview how the pieces will fit together and see if they align.
_Future Product Add-Ons Before technology brought us to where we are today, if our client returned to us requesting to add or replace product, we would have to start at ground zero and expect a substantial turnaround time. Now, if our client were to return years later requesting more of the same workstations or conference tables due to company expansion, programs such as SolidWorks and a CNC router allow us to easily duplicate the exact same parts of each product. This also enables us to replace and modify each individual piece of the product— either piece by piece or in bulk— giving us the opportunity to grow and evolve with our clients.
_Manufacturing Advanced manufacturing tools have allowed for mass production, making it possible to create eight replicated parts just as easily as 80,000 replicated parts. Thanks to laser cutting, configuration machines, 5-axis CNC router technology and 3D printers, accuracy is near 100%, ensuring that all products will be manufactured and replicated without error.
90-degree corners and basic shapes that did not place much focus on connection points. This was because every detail that strayed too far from the typical shape would need to be hand-implemented. For example, we worked on a project 12 years ago with an architect who wanted rolled steel panels for every desk. We took our drawings to the metal suppliers, who then needed to take each four-foot panel, drop the break press about 100 times on it to slightly bend it to the correct radius, then hand-sand the break marks out. Ultimately, a design as unique as this one was labor intensive, expensive and difficult to guarantee perfect iterations. Technology is at times regarded as a necessary evil that removes the human element or “soul” from the art of creation. While this may be true in some cases, we at Studio Other feel that it has opened the doors to boundless creativity and innovation free from the constraints of manufacturing limitations. In fact, we have had the opportunity to produce similar customized rolled steel panels for several clients, such as Foley Hoag and Boston Consulting Group, in the past few years with absolute ease and within budget—a night-and-day comparison to our endeavor 12 years ago.
Let’s make cool sh*t. _Complexity The use of technology has allowed us to model and build very complex, detailed and unique designs. Years ago, we were limited in the creative liberties we could take with our designs and confined to easily manufacturable qualities, such as
Ultimately, Studio Other is made up of makers and doers at heart. We find fulfillment and value in our job through the relationships, collaboration and innovation we experience with every project—and digital advances have allowed us to participate to our highest potential in each of these areas. At the end of the day, we’re a bunch of creatives who like making our clients’ wildest dreams a reality in any way we can. When you’re ready to start your own co:design process, we’ll be there to meet you and say,
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Crossword Puzzle
Studio Other
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Use the clues below to fill in the words in the boxes. Words can go across or down. Letters are shared when the words intersect.
Across 4. HPL is a term used for high pressure 10. The process of placing equipment in a position ready for use. 12. Typically consists of a surface and storage. 14. A engineer tool for measuring accurately to the thousandth of an inch. 15. Also called a panel 16. What is a type of sideboard that is used to store items?
Down 1. What is our ethos for the process during design development? 2. What is a metal rod or pin for fastening objects together that usually has a head at one end and a screw thread at the other and is secured with a nut? 3. What is the use of scientific principles to design and build items? 5. What panel substrate glues layers of wood together? 6. Used to cover the exposed edges of wood 7. What is an event that indicates a significant change or stage in development? 8. Hot Rolled Steel (abbreviated) 9. A durable coating for sheet metal. 11. What is the term used to describe the point at which two pieces of metal are melted and are joined together? 13. A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of an object before it is built or made.
*Scan QR code on back of book for answers .
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We are the other option.
@studioother
@studioother