Austin Skyline | ENGI 210: Prototyping and Fabrication

For this project, I wanted to create a design featuring the Austin skyline. My original design used an inner cut. After having issues with cutting the shape on the WaterJet, I switched to an outer cut. With the new design, I was able to cut out the diamonds.

After my diamonds were cut, I used a file to dull the sharp edges of the design. Then, I used the sand blaster to smooth the surface of the metal.

I added a clear coat of spray paint (since the power coating machine wasn’t working) and hung the diamonds to dry. After letting the clear coat dry, I noticed some prominent interperfections on the diamonds.

In order to hide these problems while maintaining a metallic look, I used two coats of silver spray paint on the diamonds.

I hand sanded the diamonds to get rid of some inconsistencies caused by the clear coat underneath the spray paint. Unfortunately, the sanding also removed the layers of silver spray paint so I had to re-spray paint the areas that were messed up. After this last coat, the diamonds were finally finished!