For the metal cutting project, I decided to create an infinite diamond illusion.

Steps:

• Create your diamond shape and cutout via Adobe Illustrator.
• Use the water jet cutter to cut out two identical pieces of aluminum.

• Use a file to smooth the initial sharp edges of the aluminum.
• Sand your pieces using sandpaper grit ranging from 60 to 320.
• Create a vinyl sticker that would serve as a mask during sandblasting.
  • At this point, I realized that the illusion would only work if the edges of the diamond were cut off
  • Thus, I used a Dremel cutter and trimmed off the edges
• Apply the vinyl stickers.

• Sandblast the pieces evenly.

• Apply gloss clear coat.
  • Shortcomings: during drying, one of the diamonds got contaminated with black paint from neighboring pieces on the drying rack

Final Product:

Cost:

• Materials:
  • $15 / 1×1 ft sheet of aluminum
  • $1.00 / 8.5 x 11” sheet of vinyl sticker
  • $6.19 / can of clear gloss spray paint
• Time:
  • $7.25 * 5 hours = $36.25

TOTAL: $58.44 (for both diamonds)

The cost definitely would be much lower if I didn’t spend so much time with trial and error while designing the vinyl.