The process

The past week I’ve been working on optimizing my metal diamond cutting and post-processing.

By using a diamond template, I designed my customized diamond shape on Illustrator adding a resembling detail of a small wood branch with leaves. Then, I exported my file according to the instructions and I proceeded with the plasma cutter process.

I set the origin, reset the machine and I’ve been waiting the final product: my two metal diamonds.

At this point, I started the post-processing by clamping my metal diamonds to proceed with the grinding process. In this way, I could remove all the uneven parts caused by the plasma cut process.

Consequently, I shaped all the diamond angles using an angle grinder.

After, I used the sandblaster to create a completely clean surface free of any surface imperfections.

At this point, I proceeded spray-painting my pieces with two different colours: blu and gold. In order to obtain, the pattern showed in the picture below, I taped my diamonds and I sprayed with the gold paint.

Before leaving, I made sure that my workspace was clean.

 

Cost analysis

If I made this process in batches of 100, the cost related would have been exponentially decreased. This assumption includes all the costs related to the labor and overhead expenses mainly.

For example, the cost related to the plasma cutting operator and the facility cost would be the same for 100 pieces.

Oppositely, costs related to the materials will increase since the amount of material required to produce 100 pieces is higher.

Trying to estimate a total cost for 100 pieces:

• Materials: $147,6
• Labor: 96$
• Overhead: $100

Total: 343,6

In this way, 1 piece cost is $3.44.

Instead, the cost result for 1 pieces obtained working only on to pieces has been $113.29!