For the water jet cutter project, the dimensions is limited by the diamond, so I wanted to make it more interesting from cutting edges off. After a try on the water jet cutter, I noticed that design with a hold might fail since the water jet always start cutting from the outside so the plate might be drifting away. Therefore I decided that no hole-shape will appear in the diamond and then I made my design.

1. Design

For the design, I did everything in adobe illustrator so that it can be directly imported to all the softwares. I designed an arrow shape that has a similar style to video game I really liked, Persona 5.

The main body will be painted in red and there will be a black vinyl masking.

2. Water Jet Cutting

The next step is to load the AI file to the water jet cutter. With the program, I was able to clean the file and auto generate a path for the water jet cutter. After a dry run I ensured enough space for the actual cut and I started the cut.

After cutting out two pieces, they look like below.

3. Filing & Sanding

The next step envolves filing and sanding in the basement. I used a file to remove all the sharp corners and made the other edges smooth.

The I used sand paper from 80 to 400 grit to make everything on the surface feel smooth.

4. Sand-Blasting & Painting

To make a nice looking paint that will hold on to the metal surface, we would want to sand blast the surface first to create a larger surface area.

After the sand blast, red paint is applied and the plate looked shiny.

After the paint dried out, we can move on to another sanding process so that the surface feels smoother.

5. Vinyl Masking & Clear Coating

To apply the vinyl sticker, we import the ai file to another software and cut out on a black sheet of vinyl. The metal plate looked better with the sticker on.

Though applying sticker can be challenging, I am enjoying the result a lot. Before engraving the process on to the back of the plate, we need to first apply a clear coating so that the paint is more durable.

6. Engraving

I decided to use laser cutter to engrave the process to the back of the plate. To accurately locate the position, I cutted out a same dimensioned diamond on the wood first and kept the home position while putting the plate to the hole

Then I can engrave the process to the back of the plate.

The plate is then finished.

Cost Estimate

Labor cost: 5hr of work * $12 per hr = $60

Material cost : around $16 for the metal plate and around $2 for the vinyl sticker

Other cost: Paint-Used a quater bottle of yellow paint, $6.99/4=$1.7

Sum of cost is around $80.

 

Overall, I enjoy the project a lot, and I learned to use water jet cutter and vinyl cutter which I never used before. The result turned out well but I wish I could have more time so that I can apply a more precise vinyl masking and a better paint coating.