This one was rough! Lots of machine troubles and such.
Here are the steps that I took to come up with this product
- Plasma Cutting:
On Adobe Illustrator, I set up a a Red Cross symbol in one of the preconstructed tiles from Canvas. I wanted to go for a more complicated shape initially, but there was a warning against using more complex shapes as the plasma cutter worked basic geometric shapes. Following the protocol on the computer, I was able to cut out 4 different tiles. What I would have done differently is that I would have tried a more interesting central shape, as well as try something cooler with the borders.
2. Angle Grinder
I tried to remove as much of the slag as possible on each of the pieces using the angle grinder. It was initially pretty scary, but I got as much of it done as possible. I also used the grinder to remove the rust on some of the pieces. I accidentally created indentations on the first piece that I tried it on, but things were pretty smooth after that. If I did this part again, I would try angle grind a little more on the darker areas to match the silver of the freshly angle ground? areas.
3. Filing the edges. I wanted to sandblast at this point. But the machine was broken! So I had to think of other way to post-process. One of the lab assistants said that it would be cool to file the edges so that they weren’t as sharp, so that’s what I did!
4. Time to paint! I started with one coat of primer application on both sides of each piece and then moved on to applying a brown coat of spray paint on each side of the pieces. Lots of mistakes were made. I didn’t spray from far enough of a distance, nor did I spray quickly enough, so there was a lot of pooling of the paint in certain parts. Additionally, the biggest mistake I made was that I didn’t wait for a sufficient amount of time for each layer to dry before flipping or painting a new coat. The end product was cakey blotchy spray paint with random pieces of wood shavings on it. No clue where those came from.
5. I didn’t like how that looked, so I decided to sand both sides of each tile with sandpaper of 2500 grit as Dr. Wettergreen and some of my classmates recommended. That gave all the pieces a faded brown look.
6. I went outside put on an extra layer of brown spray paint, but all of it had been used up! So I tried to make up for it by putting on orange spray paint instead. I made sure to wait 1 hour before flipping and spraying the other side. That definitely worked better! Here’s the final product.
Financial Model
- Metal Sheet: one 25″ x 36″ metal sheet: $43.93
- Primer: Rustoleum Primer $7.88
- Brown Spray Paint: Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel Brown: $6.98
- Orange Spray Paint: Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel Orange: $6.98
- Labor: 9 hrs at $7.50 each = $67.50
- Plasma Cutter, Adobe Illustrator, Angle Grinder, File, 2500 Grit Sandpaper – free use as part of the OEDK
- Total: $133.27
