Names: David Doucet and Avinash Shivakumar
In this assignment, we were tasked with cutting the OEDK logo from a sheet of metal, using the plasma cutter in the machine shop, and refining the piece until it looked ‘presentable.’
We began by importing the OEDK logo vector file into a 2D design editor. We were able to select the exact contoured path that we wanted to cut along. Then, we scheduled a time at which Dr. Wettergreen could acquaint us with the equipment and its operation.
Once at the plasma cutter, we followed the directions on the operations manual handout. Most of the steps were quite intuitive and everything followed the ‘directions’ handout smoothly. There were few, if any confusing parts to the entire process of cutting out the logo. Our selection of material for the logo piece was based on a number of samples that were in the machine shop; we managed to select the sample that matched the thickness and approximate appearance of our selected material and then identify the power setting that would produce the cleanest, most slag-free cut as shown by the sample. Possibly the only part that gave us some trouble was the adjustment of the size specification for our projected logo piece. We had originally set the size too large and realized this before we made any cuts. This allowed us to reduce the cutting size and scale down our cutting area to a reasonable size. After ensuring all specifications were satisfactory, we began the actual plasma-cutting. Upon completion of the cut, we determined that our outline was a satisfactory starting point for this assignment, so we were able to power down the plasma cutter equipment and retrieve our piece.
After washing off our logo piece, we approached Joe in the Machine Shop on the proper methods of refining the rough and slag-filled edges. He informed us that the electric angle-grinders were not functional at the moment and that we would just have to remove the slag and smooth out our edges the old-fashioned way: with a file and sandpaper. We clamped our logo piece onto a table and began filing away until all of the slag was noticeably removed from the piece. At this time, we also took the effort to ensure that our piece’s edges were approximately smoothed off. Joe also gave us a tool specifically meant for smoothing out the rounded edges within the contour, such as for the insides of the “O,” “E,” and “D.” Next, Joe gave us a sanding block and told us to start sanding the piece to produce a finer smoothing of the edges. It was important that we only sand in one axial direction so that we did not counteract our own efforts. We sanded the entire piece until it was much more lustrous. We ensured that the edges were actually smooth. Upon presenting this to Joe, he told us about the importance of ridding the piece of all the small gouges through the sanding process, upon which we pointed out that one of the gouges in our piece was significantly deep. He told us that the deep gouge would likely not come out of the piece without some severe sanding that would probably necessitate stripping a layer off of the piece. So, we continued to sand until we concluded that the deep gouge would not come out but that the smaller gouges were gone. Upon asking Dr. Wettergreen for feedback on our piece, we found that the edges of some of the letters were far too sharp, so we filed those down further until the logo piece was a nice, rounded object.
Finally, we prepared to paint and/or finish the product. When we were sanding the logo piece in the machine shop under Joe’s supervision, he had told us that he didn’t think the piece needed much more in the ways of finishing except washing it thoroughly with soap to bring out its shine. However, to give it something extra, we decided to paint our piece. We discussed some color choices, eventually settling on blue, as it felt the most suited to the OEDK logo. We then painted the piece, let it dry, and stepped back to admire our work:
