After learning about metal cutting and post-processing in class, our next assignment was to design, cut out, and process a metal diamond. The first step was to determine what shape I wanted to cut out of the diamond. Originally, I wanted to try to make a pumpkin or something fall-related; however, I was having trouble finding an image which seemed like it would show up well when traced on illustrator and which would also be possible to create with the water jet cutter. Therefore, I ended up using a nice, simple vector image of the sun over some mountains. Laying everything out on illustrator was relatively fast, largely because I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the software since the beginning of class. All I had to do was download the provided diamond template, center my image and trace it with the “image trace” tool, and then adjust the settings on everything so it would cut properly.

Next, it was time to use the water jet cutter to cut my designs out of aluminum. I was a bit nervous about this, as I’d never used it before and was worried I’d forget an important step. However, the instruction sheet in the wet lab was super helpful in walking me through the setup, and everything went relatively smoothly. The only issue I ran into was that I started off with the water level a bit too high, causing the machine to periodically stop due to issues with the pressure. This caused one of my diamonds to have a few tiny indentations in the cut where the machine stopped and then started again.

After taking my pieces from the water jet cutter, I decided to sandblast them. This part was quite fun due to the extremely noticeable difference it created in my pieces. Originally, the aluminum was very un-uniform, with some areas of red paint on one side. After a few minutes in the sand blaster, everything looked much nicer, and I was able to get rid of all of the paint with minimal effort. After sandblasting, I briefly filed some of the edges of the piece to make sure everything was relatively smooth and even.

Finally, I finished up my post-processing by powder coating my diamonds. I was also nervous about this step, mostly due to the complicated setup. As expected, it was the setup that took the most time. The powder coating itself was quite quick and easy; however, I accidentally went a bit crazy with the powder and accidentally applied way too much. I think it was this that caused my diamonds to look quite uneven when I took them out of the oven, with the blue coating pooled and some areas and much thinner in others. However, with the time I had left before going home for midterm recess, plus the need to work on my midterm project, I unfortunately did not have the chance to re-cut and coat them. I was somewhat disappointed with my final product, but I do think I learned the importance of cutting out some extra pieces to ensure at least two are perfect, as well as the downsides of waiting to finish my pieces until somewhat late.  

Cost Analysis:

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	Aluminum	$12.58 for 6’ x 18”	Lowes	⅓  piece	$6.29
Labor	Water Jet Operator	$15/hr	ZipRecruiter	1 hour	$15.00
	Sand Blasting	$18/hr	ZipRecruiter	30 min	$9.00
	Powder Coating	$15/hr	ZipRecruiter	30 min	$7.50
Overhead	Facility Cost (Machine Time)	Assume 15% of labor and materials	Rockler	N/A	$8.90
	Quality Control	Minimal time spent	N/A	N/A	$0
Design	Engineering and Development	$43.12/hr	ZipRecruiter	30 min(using illustrator)	$21.56
Misc.	Waste/scrap	N/A	N/A	Very minimal	$0
Total	$68.25