Before this assignment, I had used the waterjet before, but only to make pretty basic box-like structures. So for this I really wanted to test the limits of fine detail in the machine. I started by going on thenounproject and found a few files I liked–– a sailboat with waves, three fish with bubbles, and a cool-looking piece of coral. I imported the .svg files into Adobe Illustrator and configured them around in the diamond shape, then prepared the file to cut on the waterjet:
I played with the tool offset a bit, and decided to go with 0.01 to be precise without potentially damaging some of my smaller lines. The first cut actually turned out really well:
I was particularly impressed by how well the thin pieces around the sailboat held up. I didn’t want to risk damaging these parts with a file or anything too harsh, so I sanded it with 100 grit, 220 grit, and 400 grit sandpaper. I cut another piece and did the same with that one. Then, I sandblasted the first piece, after taping it to some plywood to protect the fragile sections. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the sandblasted piece (left) with the non-sandblasted piece (right):
After sandblasting the other piece, I painted both. The color options for spray paint were very limited, so I got creative–– first I used the royal blue paint, and then I sprayed a little bit of the silver-colored paint on top, to try to make the texture resemble moving water. (I’m realizing I don’t actually have a picture of this step, so bear with me until later.)
My diamonds were pretty much done at this point! But I realized I didn’t actually have enough space to write the steps on the back, or attach one to the wall easily. So I decided to create a sort of ‘frame’ for them using laser cut acrylic. I started with a piece of acrylic, and sized-up the diamond shape in illustrator so I would be cutting a slightly larger diamond to fit around the waterjet pieces. Then I etched out another diamond in exactly the dimensions of the waterjet piece. I did this for a few reasons–– to keep it centered, to give it that nice frosted look, and to provide a more textured surface for epoxy to bind to. In order to get the etched diamond centered on the already-cut diamond, I put the cut piece back inside the space that it had been cut out of, and using the new laser cutter it’s easy to match the centers of two cuts.
I liked the result a lot, and it fit my waterjet piece really well.
Then I flipped the acrylic frame over and etched my name and the production steps in the back of each diamond, using the same centering strategy:
Then I epoxied the waterjet pieces onto the acrylic frames. Overall, I am really happy with my result.
Cost Analysis:
- Part of a sheet of aluminum: ~$10
- 3 kinds of sandpaper: $8.60
- Abrasive/Sand/Paint–– negligible
- Acrylic–– negligible (used scrap)
- Labor, assuming $11/hour OEDK wage for 4 hours: $44
Total: $62.60
