Red Iris, 2022

This mechanical iris was built from a combination of wood and 3D printed parts. It is about 4 times larger than my previous iris, and has a diameter of 30 inches. There are over 100 parts, 30 bearings, and 16 axes of rotation in this design.

Building this piece at full scale confirms what I suspected (but wasn't convinced), that the heavier mechanism would be balanced and offset the force of gravity acting on each leaf. So it can be moved with little force, and stays at whatever position it is left at.

I am really proud of this design and how well the iris functions. I have had the iris mechanism on my mind since 3 years when I attempted to build a ring box version of the design, before running into issues and a deadline which made me shelf my plan. But I swore that I would be back... so now after more experience and iterative design, I am happy that I was able to execute the iris the way that I have been envisioning it.