So this project actually took me a while to get done, if I ASSUME that my pieces of Jiangsu (the province in China where I am from) are generally done by now. Just like Dr. Wettergreen said in class, a lot of time was actually spent on post-processing and WAITING for the post-processing to be over.

Before using the plasma cutter (picture above), I first prepared the file for the pieces. After tracing around the picture of Jiangsu, I imported the illustrator file into Torchmate (white one) and make the lead in/out following the handout steps. Finally I exported it into a DXF file and imported into Torchmate (black one). (A feed rate would be first selected based on the material)

The actual cutting process was still basically following the steps in the handout. Grounding cable needs to be attached. I turned on laser in the Aux menu and used the Jog menu to move the torch head to a desired spot and zeroed all. A “dry cut” was achieved by turning off the cut function. (And the noises made by laser cutter in dry run was actually nice.) Otherwise there would be actual cut. After cutting the first piece, I chose “reset” and moved the torch head to a new desired place so that the cutter could start on the identical job.

When the pieces were taken out, they looked like this. (picture below)

On the back side, there were a lot of dross remaining, and the edges were not smooth. (pictures below)

Therefore I started post-processing them. I filed down the drosses and sand-blusted the surfaces and spray-painted the surfaces.

Jiangsu after filing

Jiangsu after sand-blusting

Jiangsu after spray-painting

Filing and sand-blusting did not in fact take up much time, but I totally underestimated the time waiting for the spray-paint to dry (or I should have chosen some paint that dries faster), so I had to wait for about 24 hours before the sprayed side dried and I just did the other side like two hours ago. I was hoping that I could have enough time to sand down the excessive paint and do a second layer but maybe it’s already too late…

Anyways, it was great fun to learn about plasma cutter, post-processing and cutting out the province I am from!