For this assignment, we needed to use the OEDK’s Waterjet Cutter in its Wet Lab to cut out previously-provided 2D drawings of diamonds and an image of our choosing from either aluminum or steel. I eventually decided to use steel simply due to there being more sheets of them with enough surface area left to cut my diamonds instead of what remained of the aluminum sheeting.

With the 2D diamond drawing was provided to us beforehand, the first step required importing an image of my choosing (a cyclist sourced from thenounoriject.com) into the provided 2D diamonds using Adobe Illustrator and correctly configuring both so that a vectorized file containing the 2D diamond and its cyclist could be exported to the computer connected to the WaterJet Cutter in the Wet Lab.

Once exported to that computer, I followed the steps provided to me there to configure my original 2D vector file with the blue and red Protomax Software so that the toolpath the WaterJet Cutter would eventually follow as it cut out my vectorized image was created. This process took about 60 minutes (1 hour) to finish.

Once all of the computer elements were finalized, I followed the steps provided to prepare the WaterJet Cutter to Cut out my shape and simply watched as it effortlessly cut away at my steel sheeting once the process started. This process took about 60 minutes (1 hour) to complete.

This process, repeated twice, took only a combined 15 minutes (0.25 hours) and produced the two diamonds shown below.

However, before I attempted to color the diamonds, I decided to file down some sharp edges present on the edges of each piece. This process took about 30 minutes (0.25 hours).

The next step involved using spray paint to color my pieces. Initially, I intended to just paint them black. However, I tried using a fan to make the paint dry faster and initiated a surprising speckled patterning over my pieces as is shown below.  This process took around 15 minutes (0.25 hours).

I was pleasantly surprised by this pattern created by the fan blowing on my pieces as they dried. Though unexpected, it made the project and the skills developed throughout it more memorable to me and helped to make this project particularly meaningful to me.

Cost Analysis:

• Labor: 1 hour + 1 hour + 0.25 hours + 0.5 hours + 0.25 hours = 3 hours of time, which at a regular wage of $10/hour leaves us spending $30 on labor
• Materials: Since the OEDK, its equipment/materials, and software were free for me on this particular project, I have decided that the only real material costs attributed to this project was that of the approximate 48 square inches of 0.25 inch-thick steel sheeting both diamonds were cut from, which at about $0.025/square inch leaves us spending around $1.20 on materials

Therefore, when considering these specific factors, around $31.20 was spent creating this project. This figure would change depending on whether you classify the paint, water/sand, etc. used as a material expense. However, as stated previously, they were free of charge in this particular instance and so I choose to only account for the material cost of the steel sheeting.

Below is a picture of my final diamonds onto of the box made for another assignment in this class.