Goal: use the laser cutter to produce a box that can be used to display the physical parts

User: Jasmine

Time: 9/23, 2 hrs (actual work took 1 hour, but reserved 2 hours laser cutting session)

Build a box! (abt 14 hours)

1. Creation process
   1. Box template  
   2. Raster & Vector
   3. Put it together!
   4. Challenges
2. Final product & Cost

Creation Process

1. Box Template

Following the homework instruction, I first created a box template using make a box.io. After discussing with my peers and observing others’ works, I decided on the following parameters for my box: width, height, and depth = 3.8in. Kerf=0.0065in, margin=0.125in, padding=0.1in, stroke=0.001in. Then I downloaded the file and prepared it to print.

2. Prepare to print

I load the box template into Adobe Illustrator, and it turns out like this.

3. Raster

Next, I selected some simple images online and uploaded them onto the laser cutting template file on adobe illustrator. For this assignment, I want to keep things simple. So I selected a small cactus icon and a sun icon next to my name. I saw others having the rice engineering owl, and I love its safety hat so I included that icon as well. Since my wood has a lighter color, and the images I wish to include have text on them, I don’t want too much contrast on the surface to make the image too salient.

To find out the best raster setting for me. I had a lot of “mini interviews” with peers and close observations of others’ test cuts and final results. For the raster setting, I found a lot of peers used speed 80, and power 40. I like the result, but I prefer the outcome to be just a little darker. I also saw another peer use speed 40 power 60, but I think it will be too dark for my raster. 

As a result, I chose speed 60, and power 40 for the raster. I decided to raster first and then cut the wood so that it’s easier for me to monitor the process and make adjustments. Since the laser was in a good placement, I didn’t adjust the starting point of the laser using the jog/focus function or the blue key shape focus tool to find the best level. After checking those settings, I closed the laser cutter lid and clicked print on the computer. The process took around 10 mins, and I was really satisfied with the raster result. 

4.Cut the wood

After the raster, I did not remove the wood but put blue tape on the board to cover the raster and to prevent burning in the next task, cutting. When I came to ODEK, the peers before me were trying to remove their pieces from the wood because the machine did not fully cut through (speed: 5). Another one used speed 6, which still required some effort to remove pieces, but was much better than the result when speed =5.
So I used speed 6 and my other vector settings are power 100%, and frequency 10 following the OEDK CO2 laser suggestions. Luckily, after 4 mins of cutting, all my pieces fall off the board easily and left a minimal burn on the kerf, so I was really happy about it.

5. Put everything together!

After removing the blue tape, I put all the pieces together and finished making the box! 

Challenges

With previous research and support from my teammate Tracy as well as other peers, the creation process was really smooth. However, when designing for a raster image I did not account for how the image would turn out when I put everything together, so the engineering owl was not in the location I hoped for. 

Cost Analysis