In this week’s assignment of waterjet cutting a diamond, I cutted a diamond with a shark outline in the center out of aluminum. 

I downloaded the diamond file from the canvas page and found a shark outline from thenounproject.com. I combined the two files and sent the file to the waterjet cutter’s Protomax applications to begin the waterjet cutting process.

The diamonds had sharp edges as the pressure of the water cutting through caused the edges of the aluminum to curve downwards. To fix this, I filed the edges down with a filer to smooth out the rougher edges. 

Once smooth, I used the sandblaster in the woodshop and sandblasted both sides of the diamond to smooth out the surfaces. After cleaning up the debris, I spray painted the front surface with Royal Blue spray paint that also added a glossy finish.

 

Cost Analysis: 

Aluminum:  I used a total of approximately three 2’’x2’’ pieces 0.25cm thick aluminum. A 4’’x 8’’ piece of aluminum that is 1/16’’ thick costs $2.25. The total price for the aluminum used in this project is $0.84.

Waterjet Cutter:  I used the waterjet cutter for approximately 1.5 minutes for each diamond. I cut a total of 3 diamonds so I used the waterjet cutter for 4.5 minutes total. Waterjet cutters use approximately 2.5kWh of electricity. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the laser cutter is $0.3. 

Sandblaster:  The sandblaster uses 90 watts which I used for 10 minutes, totalling to approximately 0.09kWh. In Texas, it costs $0.12 per 1kWh, so the total electricity cost of the laser cutter is $0.012. 

Spray-paint: I used approximately 1/100th of the spray bottle can. At $5.98 a bottle, the total cost for the paint used is approximately $0.06.

Labor: I asked for help from a lab assistant for approximately 15 minutes. At $10/hour, the total labor cost for this assignment is $2.5. 

The total cost for this assignment is $3.712.