For this assignment, I was tasked with water jet cutting two identical personalized diamonds and doing post-processing for the pieces in a creative way. I decided to go with a superhero design by choosing the emblem for the character ‘The Flash’, which turned out to be a fun direction to take the homework.
Initial Design
To begin, I downloaded a PNG image of the emblem and imported it into Adobe Illustrator. Using the diamond provided on canvas, I centered and sized the image accordingly. From here, I decided it would be best to trace the image of the emblem using the pen tool, as there were certain areas which I decided to stray from the design in the image.
Original Flash Emblem Image
Adobe Illustrator File of Diamond w/ Emblem
Cutting the Pieces
Once I had the Adobe Illustrator file, I was able to begin cutting the piece. This was done simply by importing the file into the water jet cutter’s software, preparing the file, and beginning the cut. I was very pleased with how the cuts came out, and noticed very little to no differences between the cut and the .ai file.
Initial Cuts
Post Processing
The two big things I focused on for post-processing were filing and painting the pieces. When cut with the water jet cutter, the pieces came out very rough specifically around the edges, but the surface itself was relatively smooth. I used a file to smoothen out the edges of the pieces which helped a lot, although it did leave behind some unwanted scratches.
Roughness of edges before filing
For painting, I began with a base coat of black spray paint on the entire piece. After doing this, I used red acrylic paint on the lightning bolt area of the emblem. I did this by taping the area of the pieces that I did not want painted, then applying a very generous but rough coat of red paint. The rough coat allowed for the black base coat to be semi-visible, which was a look that I actually liked. This led to me not applying another layer of red paint and simply keeping it the way that it was.
Initial coat of Black Spray Paint
Adding Masking Tape and Painting w/ Red Acrylic Paint
Post-Processed Pieces
Cost Analysis
Sheet of Steel = $2.26
Paint (Black-Spray & Red-Acrylic) = $0.50
Labor = $29
Total = $31.76
Conclusion
This assignment was a really fun task to complete and helped me gain a better understanding on how to use the water jet cutter. There were some imperfections in the cutting/painting of my pieces, but going through the process has allowed me to understand where I went wrong and how I can improve.
