For this project, I decided to cut the diamond metal into the shape of the South Korean flag.
Using the water jet cutter was relatively easy. I just had to keep an eye on the water level and garnet sand. I initially made a mistake of putting the shapes too close together and the machine wasn’t intricate enough to cut the shapes separately.
So I made wider gaps between the shapes so that it could cut them properly. I produced two of them; I am not sure why but the first one was a little off-centered.
Then I sandblasted them, and used sandpaper to sand them down.
Spray painting the diamonds was a lot trickier than I thought. I wanted to apply both red and blue (the colors on Korean flag) on the same face which made things harder. Somehow the spray paint kept getting onto the other side so I had to re-spray each side multiple times to cover that up, making the layer uneven. I eventually ended up sandblasting the diamonds again to remove all the paint and painted them again. But still, it was hard to not get the paint on the other side even if I let it dry for much longer.
paint smudging through the other side 🙁
Overall, I think my diamonds look pretty cool, but I wish I was better at spray painting them so that the layers could be much neater and more even.
Cost Analysis
- 12 ” x 12 ” x 1/8” Aluminum Metal Sheet (Amazon): $ 12.15
- spray paint (blue and red) (Home Depot): $6.48 x 2 = $12.96
- labor: $15/hour x 5 hrs = $75
- TOTAL: ~$100
