Computer Aided Cutting
Laser-cutting machine and software:
Detailed information on how to use machine & group assignments of testing a kerf according to
different materials and machine settings can be found on the following links:
Parametric build module with joints
Using openSCAD, I could draw little modules to test out 'joint', which is a way to put more
than two parts without using glue.
module around(diameter, width, depth){
difference(){
circle (diameter, $fn = 100);
//along y axis
translate([-width/2,depth,0]) square ([width,7]);
mirror([0,1,0]) translate([-width/2,depth,0]) square ([width,diameter-depth]);
//along x axis
translate([depth,-width/2,0]) square ([7,width]);
mirror([1,0,0]) translate([depth,-width/2,0]) square ([diameter-depth,width]);
}
}
around(10, 3, 3);
After drawing this model in openSCAD, I was a little bit confused with the unit.
Then Paulina helped me to solve the issue.
Her tip for saving exported openSCAD file with your favored metric setting('mm' in my
case)
is
that opening your exported image file with text editor first and putting a metric on it
when it is
saved.
Another tip which Paulina gave to me in integrating kerf into a design is to make slit a
little bit
smaller than the thickness of a material.
In my case, I worked with 3mm cardboard.
My initial thought was varying width and depth of a slit differently.
I tried to print 5 different modules for each and see what works the best.
Since I made the module itself quite tiny, however, they were all mixed up as I take out
from the
laser-cutter.
So I couldn't really differentiate each module with different sizes. As she was also
working on same
material with the same thickness, I could print good-enough modules.
I learned how it is hard to get smooth but tight parts which can hold together, and how it is important to experiment on kerf of a material. I guess I'll need a lot of experience to get a good quality of result for my final project.
Laser-cut laptop stand
I found a cool tutorial on making a laser-cut laptop stand from youtube (you can also find the
tutorial from here!)),
so I gave it a try. It was a good chance to make something practical!
I again used 3mm cardboard for this laser-cut laptop stand, but it turned out as you can see from the last picture, top and support part are kind of too weak for doing their job. Since they were all curved, it does not really look stable. Maybe I'll try again with thicker material.
Vinyl cut bat mask
Later I wanted to try out Vinyl cutter in our lab.
We have a Silhouette
Cameo 3 and
the Silhouette Studio Software
in our
fablab.
I decided to make masquerade mask using a vinyl cutter. (hehe partying XD!)
First I googled bat
mask and tried to vectorize image with Inkscape like I did in week2.
It turned out it is not necessary because
Silhouette studio is smart enough to take paths from raster files. So I just loaded
batmask
image to the software and selected the path that
I wanted to be cut. There were set parameters according to materials, level of depth I
want it to be
cut,., the software itself was not really different with 'Visicut'.
I tried two materials which are thin fabric, and thick paper, both are as thick as 1mm.
But it
turned out it is not an easy job as using a laser cutter, due to following reasons.
First of all,
Vinyl cutting is more or less poking holes through the outline of the object, so things
like a mask
which requires a level of detail, it took really a lot of time. Secondly, the blade was
not strong
enough to cut through the materials, even though I tested it to a small circle (it is
one of the
provided function called 'test-cut'), so at the end, I had to tear things apart to cut
it. But the
material was easily torn so that was a problem. (And I don't think this is what it meant
to be.)
Apart from it(unsatisfying result), when you load things like fabric to the vinyl
cutter, it also
becomes a problem, since fabric that I used were too slippery, and the sacrificing(?)
Vinyl was not
sticky enough to hold slippery materials. so I had to hold them together while cutting.
Although it
is fascinating to see a delicate movement of the vinyl cutter, it feels not so great
since I got
bored of holding it soon. Below is the result of vinyl cut bat mask!
Maybe I'll try cutting really thin materials to make sticker! That would also be really
cool.
Golden Tree Crown
Additionally I tried to do a sticker for my final project tree. I made it golden and slightly smaller than the crown to give it a nice shiny effect. Your goals are golden now. It worked out way better than the previous material.
