Florida Diamonds

• me52

Hello! This week I got to work with the waterjet for the first time and it was really fun I was a little nervous going into this project because I felt that anything strong enough to cut metal was probably dangerous and I was worried about messing it up. Spoiler alert: I didn’t mess everything up yay!! Okay, so let’s get into the process!

Step 1: Prepare Design on Adobe Illustrator

We had a premade diamond template so everyone’s diamonds were uniform. I downloaded the template, opened it in Illustrator, and then decided what shape I wanted to cut out in my diamonds. I was feeling homesick and excited to see my family in South Florida for midterm recess, so I decided to cut out the shape of Florida. I found a simple outline of Florida online and downloaded the PNG. Then, I used an image-to-svg converter online to make the image into an SVG file. I opened the SVG on Adobe Illustrator, copied the outline onto my diamond file, and shrunk the design to fit well inside my diamond. I’d say this was the easiest part of the project because I’ve gotten used to using Adobe Illustrator by now. I then made sure the stroke was at 0.072 pt and there was no fill.

Step 2: Cut out design on waterjet

I was not confident in my ability to use the water jet since it was my first time so I reserved the water jet for two whole hours and I used it all. Luckily, there were very specific step by step directions on how to use the water jet. I followed the instructions, importing the ai file and declaring a path, then uploading the new imox file and lining up the nozzle on the water jet to the best place to utilize a good patch of aluminum. I also made sure I filled up the water jet to the correct height and triple checked the manual before running it. I also did several dry runs to test the axis settings. When I finally ran the waterjet, everything worker great! I couldn’t see the action very well because the water spraying into the cover was very opaque but I trusted the image being traced on the computer screen. When the cut was done I couldn’t find the inside part of Florida because it had been blown away due to the sheer power of the water jet. I repeated the process and got two identical diamonds.

Step 3: Sanding the sides

Once the diamonds were retrieved, I used several different grits of sandpaper to create smooth edges and avoid getting cut. I began with 40 p —> 60 p —> 120 p —> 220 p —> 400 p and this was time intensive but I was happy with the outcome. I think it’s cool that you can see the silver marks left by the aluminum.

Step 4: Using the sand blaster

Once the sides were sanded I got the opportunity to use the sand blaster! This was really fun because I liked being able to feel the power in my hands and I felt safe due to the strong built-in gloves. I used the sand blaster on both sides of both diamonds and marveled at the cool texture it created.

Step 5: Coating in clear protection 

My third post processing technique was coating the diamonds so they didn’t rust and they’d have a nice glossy protection. I went outside and sprayed the diamonds on one side, then I put them on a paper clip to spray the other side because I was slightly impatient. I hung up the diamonds to dry and I waited an hour. After the hour, I checked on the diamonds and they looked good! I noticed a slight drop mark on one of them due to too much of the spray applied but I let it be because I’d rather wait until it’s fully dry to attempt fixing it.

Cost analysis:

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