For this ENGI assignment, we were tasked with creating a beautiful diamond design using the plasma cutter and post-processing/finishing techniques. Naturally, I took to Adobe Illustrator to create my diamond. First I tried to create a David’s Star, and this came out.

When I took t0 the plasma cutter I uploaded everything but had overlapping geometry so the cutter freaked out and would not let me print. So I headed back to the computer and created this design instead, using simpler paths.

I went back to the plasma cutter and using 130 in/min feed rate and 1/8in aluminum. This is what it looked like after the cut.

First I filed off the dross using a file (duh), this proved very easy for the edges but significantly more difficult for the horns and head as they are fairly complex and small so the file couldn’t quite get it all. I used 40 grit sandpaper to get that off. Then I used the belt sander to get the edges as smooth as possible. Then I went to 1000 grit sandpaper to really get the inside nice and smooth. Then I hit up the sandblaster to clean it up and make it ready for spray paint. They got really shiny, here’s one of them.

Then for some of them,   I spray painted the first side a matte brown, after about 3 layers of paint on each side I was satisfied with the outcome and stopped. For one of them, however, I chose to use a matte red finish on one side, so I put painters tape on one side and used 3 layers of red on the uncovered side, then two layers of shiny gray paint on the other side, taping the first side during that process. At this point, I was satisfied with all of the diamonds and called it a day.

Failures

• The metal I used had some deformities. This meant that after processing and finishing there are some minor aesthetic failures in the design.
• The design I made proved too complex for the plasma cutter, given its small size and intricacy, this meant that the horns didn’t cut quite as they were meant to on the deer, however, I liked the minimalistic design more so I didn’t really worry about it.
• The inside of the cut proved very difficult to smooth down effectively and as a result, it is still rough.

Prices

Price of a sheet of 1/8 in aluminum: about $20

Time taken to cut: about 1/2 hour (.5 hr @ $10/hr = $5)

Time taken to post process: about 1 hour (1 hr @ $10/hr = $10)

Price of a can of spray paint: $5 (5$/can * 3 cans = 15$)

Time taken to finish (including dry times): about 12 hours (12 hours @ $5/hour** = $60)

Total Price = $110, please note that while $110 cost to make 4 of these fellas, you could make significantly more while barely adding cost, this is because of the amount of material that was leftover and the fact that most of the time was spent just waiting for things to dry, and waiting for 5 things to dry simultaneously takes the same amount of time to wait for 4.

**I dropped the price here because it is a job that takes less skill than cutting or post-processing.