Corian Curves

FifeX has been doing a lot of Corian work recently - not worktops but smaller and sometimes quite intricate shapes for various displays.

We were approached to build some bespoke Corian display stands for a company in Edinburgh - the stands would hold a small tablet computer.

We came up with the design shown here and gave ourselves a few headaches in the process. The main shapes were thermoformed and then joined at FifeX's workshop.

After hours of sanding by Dom, the shapes in the picture at the top became the shape at the bottom with joins that you can't see! The client was happy and ordered five more - we're ordering Dom a new shoulder!

Devil's Porridge

FifeX always likes making new contacts and we were delighted to be contacted by the Devil's Porridge to have a look at one of their exhibits that needed a bit of TLC.

The beer pump interactive challenges the user to answer some questions about alcohol during WW2 and has some surprising results.

FifeX was happy to do a fix on the interactive and send it back home in time for Christmas!

Transparent LCD

FifeX has done quite a bit of work for GSC over the last few years and we've just completed a project for them about CATACURE and PROTEUS - two exciting new projects.

As part of this exciting exhibition, we were asked to work with a transparent LCD - allowing users to interact with a 3D model on a 2D touchscreen.

It's a great technique and could be applied to a whole host of applications.

There is more about this exhibition in the portfolio section of the website.

A first for electricity

FifeX worked with Lyndsey Clark to produce some exhibits for Cragside House.

Lyndey's demo is part of a project with some science classes for visitors to the venue - they will learn that Cragside was one of the first places to make use of electricity. One of the devices they first powered was a copper light with a curious and distinctly unsafe method of passing the electricity from the source to the bulb.

In our mock-up, users can see some copper jugs with 3D-printed modifications and they're a bit safer than the original!

Botanics

FifeX worked with StudioArc to produce a new installation for the Botanics in Edinburgh. The display, about biodiversity, fills one of the units that was already in place. It has a range of activities like feely boxes but its main attraction is the large rotating triangles which show users the incredible range of animals and plants that are all around them in Edinburgh. The unit presented us with significant challenges as we tried to manipulate five huge triangles with sub-mm accuracy... but we got there! If you go to the Botanics, you can't miss it!

Our Olis

FifeX worked with the outreach team at Unversity of Cambridge to produce some small table-top interactives about stem cells. A lot of the project involved manipulating graphics of oligodendrocytes to make sure that we could fit the electronics in and make the whole thing work practically whilst also being scientifically accurate.

We worked alongside their own in-house team who produced a second set of interactives and we're pleased to say they both came out looking like they belonged together.

We're looking forward to more collaborations with Becky and the team at Cambridge!

Dundee Design Festival

FifeX was delighted to be involved in the Dundee Design Festival, which was once again an enormous success. We built a bespoke display around a dot matrix printer which spewed out maps for visitors with its characteristic soundtrack!

However 2017 sees us collaborate with two artists as part of the Residency Programme.

Three projects were announced and in ours we are teaming up with Tommy Perman and Simon Kirby.

To find out a bit more about this and see some footage of the original conversations, visit the DDF website

Spring Cleaning

At this time of year, FifeX always has a lot of maintenance jobs to help bring things up to scratch for the spring and summer seasons. Today, Ken and Dom were in Fort George installing a new Corian table top for the jigsaw interactive and making a few touch-ups to the paintwork in the exhibition. We are also looking forward to putting in some more fireplaces as part of the developments in the barracks - watch this space!

Straightening the Curve

Another new venue to add to our list - FifeX has just returned from the Arbroath Abbey Visitor Centre. Part of their display features some huge sweeping curves and some AV monitors which are all flat - a perfect job for a Friday!

FifeX sorted out the gaps and got it tidied up ready for their busy summer season.

Back to MUSA

MUSA was the site of one of FifeX's early museum installs and over the last few weeks we have been doing a few updates to the exhibits and their housing. Most of the working parts have held up really well in what is almost ten years but a few cosmetic improvements have been made! We have started using Corian more and more for surfaces that will be getting abuse and the photo on the right shows our new 'glasses holders' designed and produced by Dom in 'Deep Nocturne' - hopefully these will stand up well and can be sanded to look like new in a few years!

Peli Case Design

Over the years, it is surprising just how many Peli cases we have worked on! Peli cases are used by lots of companies for displays and marketing and so we've got used to making bespoke inserts for them. Over the start of this year, we worked with Dukosi on a set of display boxes for their products. We designed and fitted the inserts and worked with them to get it all into the small box.

If you need a portable display, and you need it to be rugged, there's probably not a better place to go than a Peli and you know where to come to have it fitted!

Modelling the Abbey

FifeX has been working on a major modelling and 3D printing job for Historic Scotland at Dunfermline Abbey.

An amazing model (right) forms part of their display but it has come in for some abuse over the last few years - as it was built as a one-off, it has been hard and expensive to replicate parts.

Each component can be positioned on the main model to show the development of the Abbey over the years - with some buildings sitting on top of others!

FifeX took on the job of remodelling all the buildings into 3D so that they could be printed.

The render on the right shows the 3D data for one of these buildings. The process of printing these is under way - we'll get some photos on here when they're ready!

GSC - SEPA

FifeX completed a large install at GSC funded by OPAL and SEPA. The exhibition is on floor two next to the lift and is formed of a large wall section with tables and two other tables near the window.

The top photo shows part one of the exhibition which includes a bespoke abacus software game, two huge touch sensor areas and a fairly advanced electronic shape sorted with some interesting sounds.

Picture two shows a prototype of our Corian 'puck' holder. The small pucks hold resin encapsulations of various lichen samples and users can view them under UV light. The puck holders are made from two thicknesses of corian and then milled out to form the discs. The mount for them is also milled in-house on our X-carve.

The third photo shows the two OPAL desks with the samples out for viewing.

The tables are all made in double-thickness ply with the cut-outs for the translucent acrylic which look fantastic if you see them when it's not night-time!

Space Station - Columbus

The end of 2016 and the start of 2017 were dominated by a hugely exciting project to recreate the Columbus module of the International Space Station inside Aberdeen Science Centre!

The giant module is just over 6m long and is completely circular - it is covered in foamex and has a few authentic features including space food! The Science Centre are going to be filling the module with challenges and experiments over the next few months so be sure to get along and see what they're doing.

In this photo the team are shown with a cardboard cut-out of Tim - but maybe he'll make it along at some point - fingers crossed!