Two identical origami assemblies made with the laser cutter.
This experience left me feeling like I have the ability to cut anything I would ever need on the laser cutter. After completing this assignment, I am adept at using color mapping in order to specify different laser strengths and speeds to be able to make different styles of cuts on one run through the laser cutter.
Drawing demonstrates which lines must be cut halfway through or all the way through.
I made the piece with 2.75mm cardboard and using the vector and raster combination. To create this origami assembly, there are certain lines which must be cut halfway through, and the rest must be cut fully through. Pictured to the left is the drawing for the piece. The red lines indicate a half cut while the blue lines indicate a cut all the way through the cardboard. While the red and blue lines were their own vectors with different power and speed settings, the words which are engraved on the piece were there thanks to the raster option on the laser cutter.
Entire piece cut out by the laser cutter. Halfway cuts can be seen in the cardboard.
Pictured to the right is what comes out of the laser cutter after configuring all the correct colors and cuts. To cut fully through 2.75mm cardboard, use power 20 and speed 10. To cut halfway through cardboard, use power 2 and speed 5. Lastly, to etch on cardboard, use power 10 and speed 25. It is also important to note that the stroke of each cut must be 0.001 inches while the stroke of words that you want to etch into your material must be 0.003 inches.
Close-up of the etched words on the cardboard.
How the origami assembly is constructed and held together
After the cardboard comes out of the laser cutter, the only step left is putting the structure together. I did this using hot glue and applying it to the tabs on the sides of each face of the structure and sticking them together.
Final products.
Learning how to use the laser definitely entailed a lot of trial and error. First I went about this assignment by figuring out exactly which power and speed combinations worked best for cutting the type of cardboard that I had. Throughout my trials, I would cut random lines in order to determine which combination worked best for cutting halfway through, cutting all the way through, and etching. After numerous failures at obtaining a halfway cut, I finally discovered the power 2, speed 5 combination which seems to work perfectly for the cardboard that I was using. After I had determined which settings worked the best, I then did some research and looked up how to cut at different powers, using color mapping, to be able to finish the piece in one run. I discovered that the best method to go about this is to make your own colors using the red-green-blue configurations, write them down, and then adjust each one’s speed and power in the preferences area before you print.
AI file of the piece can be found here: pro210-2dkoqc2
