I plasma-cut a Cockatiel for my plasma cutting project! The idea came to me after seeing a giraffe cut by a previous student, and because one of my best friends from high school loves Cockatiels. To make it more vivid, instead of simply drawing a bird inside a diamond and cutting it out, I decided to make the bird solid and cut out the space around it. This way, I created a diamond shape with a Cockatiel standing inside it, where the edges of the diamond resemble a bird’s nest.

Even though I was initially satisfied with my design, after printing my piece during training, I realized it needed further refinement. My original plan was to include a small hole in the diamond, allowing me to thread a string through it and hang it as a decoration. However, the hole was too intricate for plasma cutting, as the machine couldn’t cut such small details, resulting in blurred edges where the cuts overlapped. Additionally, due to using the “male path” cutting method (cutting around the outline of the design), my bird design ended up significantly smaller than I had intended. The balance between the hollowed-out sections and the solid areas made the piece look awkward.

Because of these issues, I couldn’t complete half of the plasma cutting during training and needed to revisit the design later.

However, when I attempted to do the plasma cutting that weekend, I received news that the compressed air system was broken, making the plasma cutter temporarily unavailable. This delay lasted a month, so I resumed work on the project starting November 12th. Knowing that the cutting process would reduce the bird’s size, I adjusted the design by enlarging the bird as much as possible. Additionally, I removed the small hole in the diamond since the plasma cutting software flagged it as problematic.

This time, the revised design worked well, and I cut two identical pieces.

Next came post-processing. To remove the metal dross along the edges of my pieces, I used an angle grinder at a 45-degree angle to smooth them out.

Secondly, what I did for post-processing is sanding the edges with the files to refine them. Finally, for the spray painting, I decided to use a gradient effect to decorate the diamond. Since my friend’s Cockatiel is yellow with red cheeks, I chose a gradient transitioning from yellow to orange to red. Initially, I was worried about running out of spray paint (as I had noticed only green was available on Tuesday), but fortunately, the supplies were restocked by Wednesday, and I found all three colors I needed.

After completing my pieces, I cleaned up my workspace. Here is a picture of my workspace:

‘Cost Analysis:

Orange/Red/Yellow Spray Paint     $5.98/Can    Homedepot.com          1/3 can.         $2.00

Steel Sheet (8” x 10”) $15/sheet Amazon.com   $3.00

Facility Cost (Plasma Cutting Machine)  $65/month FUSE Makerspace $0.5 hour $0.20

Labor  $20/hour   5 hours $100

Overall: $2+$3+$0.2+$100 = 105.2