So from the time that I saw the name of the project in the laser-cut box assignment until I actually opened the instructions, I thought that the assignment was to make a plasma-cut Diamond. Like, the gemstone shape, as you would find in the Superman symbol and clipart. Then, after reading the instructions, I decided that I would do that anyway.

The outline is quite simple; I essentially just cut the top off the given diamond shape. This meant that the edges were already pretty clean after coming out of the plasma cutter, with very little dross and not much post-processing that needed to be done to the edges.

To smooth the edges and remove dross, I used the wire brush wheel in the machine shop on the edges, and experimented with using it to texture the surface (shown below, middle diamond). I decided I didn’t like that, and only brushed the edges on my final pieces.

To post-process my pieces I decided to first sandblast the surface, to give it an even texture, then polish the surface clean. The polishing took some time, but I think it added a lot of aesthetic value to the piece.

Finally, to add the diamond stylization and the description to the piece, I decided to use the laser cutter’s etching capabilities. However, nobody that I talked to had ever used those capabilities before, so I had to do some experimenting with the CO2 laser, the fiber laser, the power/speed settings, and a special spray before I found a reasonable result. Here, you can see the text side with the spray applied, then with the spray washed off, leaving only the markings.

One of the difficulties I foresaw with using the laser cutter to etch onto such a small piece was getting the image being printed to line up with the edges of the piece. I didn’t want the diamond shape to be off-center, because that would ruin the effect. To address this issue, I had the laser cutter cut out the diamond shape from cardboard, then used the negative to tell me where the machine’s location for the diamond shape is. Then, I could just take out the cardboard diamond and put in my plasma-cut one, and by pretending to etch the image onto the cardboard diamond, I would get it on my plasma-cut one.

The end result came out quite nicely, and I would consider this process to be a success.

(You have no idea how hard is to photograph a reflective material)

 

Cost: $285
Labor: 9 hrs @ $15/hr: $135
Materials: $80 (The full can of Cermark is pretty expensive)
Machining: $70 (Plasma cutting, Laser cutting, Sandblasting, wheel)
Quality Discount: $0, I actually did it right this time