I started the project with an illustrator file where I took Martel College’s initials, Sigma Pi Mu, and shaped them to match the diamond profile. I took this to the plasma cutter, using 1/8” steel plate to cut out two copies of the design. I chose steel plate as I have done more artistic metal working with aluminum than steel, and wanted to try something somewhat new.

After doing the cuts, I found that my dross was not strongly bonded to the base steel, so I skipped the angle grinding and instead carefully used a chisel to quickly remove it. The dross came off easily, leaving very little cleanup to do, though I still ended up needed to do a few minutes of filing to make the back side of the pieces uniform. After cleaning up the edges, I sandblasted the steel and had planned to finish with a clear coat. However, I did not like the look of the pieces with a sandblasted surface. It seemed too perfect and machine made to match with Martel’s “greek” culture. I also did not appreciate the shared appearance with apple computers. For a more handmade look, I manually sanded the pieces then polished them. I started at 60 grit, then went through 140, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 sanding in tight counterclockwise motions by rubbing the pieces on a sheet of sandpaper held down on the table. If done with enough time at each grit, this would result in a perfect mirror finish on the end product. To me, that end result was not worth the sand paper and time it would take to achieve on steel. Instead, I stopped sanding when the steel was smooth and shiny, but a true mirror finish hadn’t formed. To protect the pieces over time and enhance their shine, I applied some “Mother’s Mag and Aluminum” polish that I had leftover from a personal project. Finally, I laser engraved the fabrication steps on the backs of the diamonds, using a piece of scrap acrylic to first cut a copy of the pieces from then use as a placement jig.

Cost Estimate:

6 hours- $60 (As I have some experience metal working, I would pay myself slightly above minimum wage)

Steel plate stock- $10.96 (Home depot pricing for smallest piece the diamonds could be cut from)

Sandpaper- $12.96 (Amazon listing for variety pack including all grits used)

Polish- $4.19 (What I paid for it on previous project)

Total without machining- $88.11

Plasma cutting- $55 (Doris claims to have found a 1 day rental at this rate, I personally could not find a quote for the cut.)

Total- $143.11