Computer-Controlled cutting

Vinyl Cutter

For the vinyl cutter I wanted to cut a logo for my Final project which is the Pulse Bracelet.

When I started thinking about the design, I thought that I should make a logo that has a heart and it should show that the two bracelets connected together.

So I started Drawing the heart with CorelDraw 2-Point Line then converted it to a curve to make the heart.

For the two connected bracelets, I started with the letter "S" then I converted it to a curve and I made it look like infinty. So the bracelets are connected together forever.

And this is my final design:




Then I made the design in white with balck background so I can use it for fab modules.

Usually we used to send the file derectly from CorelDraw to the Vinyl Cutter but now we tried Fab Modules. I liked it because with it we can control all the machines.




The machine we have in the lab to cut vinyl is Roland - CAMM-1 GS-24. The settings for the cutting were: - Force (g): 50 - Velocity (cm/s): 5 - Diameter: 0.25 - Offsets: 1 - Overlap: 0.5 - Error in Pixels: 1.5

Then, I cut the logo using the vinyl cutter, and I started removing the letters carefully




After that, I started using the application tape and I cut the edges


Then I placed the sticker on my desktop using a tape and I cut on side of the covering paper


Then I placed the sticker on my desktop


Press-fit Construction kit

Testing the lasercutter

Firstly, we need to make lasercutter test parts using parametric function. I used the parametric comp in this link in Beach Lab website. I modified the parameters so the width of the slots starts with 10 mm and then goes down by 1 mm. Then I exported to PNG with 25 pixels/mm resolution.

For cutting the card board I faced a problem. Cutting with high power burns the card board, so I used lower power settings and let the laser cutter cut in three passes so it doesn't burn the card board.

The laser we have in the lab is Universal VLS 6.60, and the program I'm using is Universal's Control Panel. And the settings are 85% power, 25% speed, 500 PPI, and 7 mm Z-axis.

After testing with the comp, I found that the best slot width to use is 6 mm.

The assignment

For the laser cutter assignment. I made a parametric design with Fusion 360. I am more familiar with SolidWorks but I want to work more with Autodesk applications because they are free for educational institutions.

It is my first time to make a parametric design, so I looked in youtube for that and I learned following this tutorial. It is very short and straight to the point:

I opened fusion 360 and I started by making my first part of the construction set

For the kit I made three different pieces, and they are fully parametric. The height, the width, and the slot thickness. Here are the three parts:

These were the parameters I used. I made these parameters to be able to change the width and the depth of the slots so it can be suitable for any material, and also these parameters alow me to change the size of the construction kit:

I exported them to dxf, and opened the file using CorelDraw and used the laser cutter to cut the card board. Here is a picture of the kit after cutting it.

Here is the final result. I contructed this toy using the parts I cut with the laser cutter. The press-fit working very well.

Files