This project definitely had a huge learning curve, but I’m glad to have learned so much and feel much more comfortable on the plasma cutter.

On 9/25, I partnered with Tori to use the cutter between 4 and 5pm. When running our dry run, the laser went too far right and an error popped up on the screen about the switch being disconnected. Neither the Lab Assistants nor us could figure out the issue, so we lost our entire hour time slot to trouble shooting. It was fixed and we were back in the machine shop at 6:20, working until 8:00 on cutting our pieces and getting more comfortable with the machinery. I couldn’t figure out why there was this little teardrop figure inside my design, but I was glad it was replicated on each piece. Turns out, I must have accidentally set the outside to a female cut, causing the machine to start within the diamond. I don’t think it takes away from the pieces at all though – I like to see it as a teardrop or water drop – a sign of nature (:

On 9/26, I briefly went into the machine shop to cut away the slag that accumulated on my pieces using the angle grinder. This device was a bit intimidating at first but I enjoyed it and felt pretty cool whenever the sparks would fly. I then went downstairs and began sanding the sides/edges of my pieces since they had a bit of slag too and were uneven. I went from 120 to 220 to 400 grit.

In the week prior, I was trying hard to figure out what I wanted my project to look like. I constantly looked at past blogs to find inspiration – did I want matte? shiny? half and half? I finally saw a blog where someone used the polishing wheel and had a very shiny almost mirror-like piece. I knew this was what I wanted to do with my butterfly!

So, on 9/27, I asked Joe in the machine shop what he thinks, but unfortunately he advised me that the polishing wheel is far too dangerous for sharp pieces like my project, so I wasn’t allowed to use it. Instead, he showed me how to use the angle grinder to get the pieces really shiny! I did this for a while, but I didn’t like that it left scratches everywhere. It wasn’t the mirror-like piece that I wanted. After talking to Joe again as well as a few lab assistants, I knew it was virtually impossible to undo the scratches that this last angle grinder session caused. This was unfortunate, but I didn’t want to restart – I knew I was learning about all of this still so I made note that if I wanted to have a scratch free surface, I shouldn’t use the angle grinder.

I decided to lean into this happy accident and embrace these scratches. I liked that they were always directed in the way you used the angle grinder. I went back into the machine shop and began angle grinding in only one direction (from top to bottom). I actually really liked the way this turned out – it felt very holographic/psychedelic with the way the swirls travelled down and across the piece. Unfortunately, I think because of the constant grinding and friction, my pieces got a bit burnt! This was a bit scary so I stopped grinding in those areas and tried to keep my time grinding to a minimum.

Once I was satisfied with the pieces, I went back downstairs to once again sand (120, 220, 400) down the edges and keep a smooth finish. Actually, this entire project I used the extra pieces I cut as test pieces once I figured out which ones were going to be my final ones. On these pieces, I tried out different angle grinding methods or sanding methods. In this step, I used one of them to see if I should sand down the swirly surface to make it more reflective. I ended up not liking this so I only sanded the edges and moved on to the last step of post processing.

On 9/28, I found a clear gloss spray paint and after testing the finish on a piece to see if I liked it, I began to spray my pieces! I did two coats on the front sides since I knew the back sides were going to have my steps on them. After they were dry, I wrote my steps on some tape and was finally finished!

Overall, I’m very proud and satisfied with my outcome! Each step in the process had its ups and downs but I really enjoyed using the machines and seeing my vision come together. I sent my dad photos throughout the whole process and he thought it was so funny and cool that I was casually using a plasma cutter in the middle of the day.

Cost:

• Plasma Cutter
  • ~$30/hour = $60
• Angle Grinder (rental)
  • $17/4hr = $17
• Sandpaper
  • 120 grit = 0.91/count = $0.91
  • 220 grit = 0.36/count = $0.36
  • 400 grit = 0.83/count = $0.83
• Clear Gloss
  • $4.49

Total = $83.59