For the past week I worked on cutting and post processing a metal diamond with a design. I have never done water jet cutting before.

Water Jet Cutting

The first step of the process was downloading the diamond file and opening it on Adobe Illustrator. Then I added a nice design in the middle of the diamond to give it some personality. Once it was ready it was time to use the Proto Layout and Proto Max applications on the OEDK Water Jet computer. This is when I stumbled into an issue. After opening my file on Proto Layout and using the Autopath feature my whole design and diamond would disappear. I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong and as it turns out all I had to do was delete the page border surrounding the diamond. Once I figured that out cutting my 2 diamonds was easy since my first 2 came out identical.

Filing and Sanding

Now it was time to use a file and sandpaper to make the edges of my diamonds smooth.

This did not take as long as I thought it would and the result was a nice smooth edge surrounding my diamond and the center design also ended up fairly smooth.

Sandblasting

This was honestly my favorite part of this assignment since not only is the concept of blasting sand onto a surface really cool but the result also ends up looking great. This also did not take as long as I expected and the result was also great. The diamonds were shiny and all the scratches that were previously on the surface were gone and replaced by a smooth and shiny finish.

Spray painting

Once again we are back to spray painting. I chose to use red spray paint on my design since it would make it look bright but also cool. After applying the spray paint it was just time to let it dry.

Another cool assignment done and dusted!

Cost analysis

• Labor at $19/hr for 3 hours: $57
• Aluminum 3/16” 12 by 12 sheet metal: $53.33
• 1 Can of Spray Paint: $6.19
• Total: $116.52