Laser Cutting
i used CorelDraw because i know it has parametric sizing capablities, and is simpler to navigate through different shapes than Photoshop. i am choosing to make a kit with hexagons and equilateral triangles so that every single edge of the kit is equal and parametric.
i started with a sketch, then measurement of the cardboard, and then a joint test with different size slots. the cardboard thickness is .167 in.
i am realizing that in CorelDraw its really hard to give me a truly regular hexagon. every time i rotate it 60 degrees, although the dimensions are locked, the measurements vary slightly. it is also resizing my slots from 1 in. to .95 in. when i rotate them 60 degrees, perhaps because its normalizing to the thousandth place? i may try another program.
i am also realizing the parametric (clone tool) will not only size, but also rotate each one, so i made three slots each rotated with a 60 degree difference, then cloned each of them, then placed them.
in CorelDraw the chamfer tool is offered on rectangles only, and not other polygons... so after subtracting the slots from the triangle and creating a new shape, i made another rectangle with 2 chamfered edges, and used it to trim the new shape's corners, creating the chamfer.
i used the clone tool for creating the slots, and in this test i varied the slot thickness; top row .167, second row .157, third row .147 to test.
i cut this design on the Epilog 75watt using the native driver on the recommended settings (50/50/500) twice- still did not cut through... slowing speed to 40% ran job twice more, but still had to cut with x-acto knife...i think the cardboard is extra thick. i will increase the power and slow it down next time.
what worked best was .157 thick slots for the compression friction. i am also shortening the length of the tabs to .4 in long to allow for the overlapping thickness of cardboard when converging in the middle.
so i laid out (16) 3 in. equilateral triangles and (17) 2 in. connector rectangles with the above slot sizes, done with the clone tool and saved as a CorelDraw file as well as .svg so that i could import into fabmodules and create the tool path that way.
click here for the .cdr file
click here for the .svg file
although i was unsuccessful in getting the fabmodules to drive the machine, i noticed the settings for cardboard were defaulted to (25/75/500) and so i used the native driver, sent the job, and it worked well (on some parts). i ended up sending the job twice with those settings to offset for the warpage of the cardboard, and had no problem removing the pieces. i also noticed that the kerf varied greatly depending on how flat the board was- it was like triple thick in the spots that were flatter on the bed that needed to be cut through twice than the smooth seemless cuts on the edges of pieces that had fallen out the first time that was where the cardboard was actually zeroed.
so next time i will place a weight and/or tape to make sure its as flat as possible.
i made a few different configurations with the kit, and my favorite assistant had fun arranging it as well. she even created a parametric photo of herself with her configuration and an effect in photobooth.
Vinyl Cutting
i am very interested in the shapes that create our reality. i am constantly in awe of the infinite possibilities that lie within circles, triangles, and squares. i love nerding out on youtube videos discussing sacred geometry, fractals, ancient history and technology, etc. and so i decided to create two vinyl cuts that show some love; a flower of life pattern (made of 7 circles), and one with 8 iterations of squaring the circle and circling the square (beginning with an original diameter and edge of .5 in., using increments of .5in.) i first created the files in CorelDraw and then re-created in CutStudio to make it easier to cut.
for the vinyl cutter, i manually adjusted the blade depth down because the first cut did not go all the way through the vinyl. i also adjusted the force from 100 to 120, and the second time it worked well. i used the transfer tape to wick out the unwanted pieces and then placed my design on another piece of vinyl for color contrast, and then stuck them on my laptop.
click here for the 'flower of life' file
click here for the 'squaring the circle' file
