Corner Entertainment Center – 02

I have started making preliminary CAD models of the Corner Entertainment Center.  I first created an assembly in Alibre Design, and then added a part called Workspace to the assembly.

In this workspace part, I drew the area of the room in which the entertainment center was going to sit.  Basically I drew a corner of a room.  Nothing dramatic here, just two walls and a floor.  I did this to help visualize the area in which the piece was going to live.

I then created a new part called TV.  Using dimensions given on the stores website, I drew the television as best as I could.  As long as the overall sizes are close it will serve its purpose.  I really just needed a visual representation so that I can get a sense of scale.

I also made parts for the different components that needed to fit into the entertainment center itself.  These were basically just “boxes” drawn to scale.  Again, I found the dimensions for each component either on the website where the component was purchased, or the manufacturers website.  All of these components, including the TV, were placed into the assembly and moved “roughly” into position.  Of course, now they are just floating in the air in the corner of the room.

At this point, I really needed to start roughing in the entertainment center itself.  First I drew the top and angled the ends in order to see how this was going to fit into the corner.  I started out making the top the maximum length that would fit in this particular space.  I didn’t want to get too detailed in drawing the main carcass for the entertainment center quite yet, so I started out by just drawing a box and then just sketched in some details in order to visualize the end product.  Until I get the overall shape and size  to look right, I am not going to start drawing any individual parts.

Shown to the right is what I have come up with for a concept design.  What I have decided to do is to make the entertainment center “reversible”.  Because of the angled ends, I think it will look better up against a flat wall if the back becomes the front.  This will present some design challenges when I get down to the details, but for now that is the plan.

Also, I decided to do a few renderings of the entertainment center for a couple of reasons.  First, to help get a better sense of what the final product might look like, both front and back.  This will help me get a better sense of what it will look like if I turn it around and put it up against a wall.  Secondly, well, because it was just a lot of fun. 

Shown below are some of the different renderings that I did. Rendering 4 shows what the entertainment center will look like when it is turned around.

As with any of the images on the site, click on them to enlarge them for a better view.