Introduction

In this post, I detail how I ended up with a metal diamond displaying my initials with a rustic/weathered look.

Procedure

Things began simple enough, I made my file in Adobe Illustrator and imported it as a .dxf into the waterjet cutter. Evan and I used 1/16″ steel, so the setting that we put into the software was for mild .06. I set up the machine and began my cut.

I repeated the cutting process to get my second metal diamond.

I then decided to sandblast these diamonds to make them have a better finish and for the powder coat’s appearance to improve for later.

I did this until they were both shiny and sparkly on both sides.

Then we worked together to powder coat our designs. We hung them on paperclips so that they could conduct electricity and the powder would stick on them.

After applying the powder coat, we put them in the oven for 20 minutes. This is the result after taking the diamonds out of the oven.

Then, we decided to do a clear coat. This is where disaster struck. The mistake I am about to make can probably be foreseen in the image below.

Yes, so I didn’t hang up the diamonds on a rack and decided to apply the clear coat directly on the dirty, powdery cardboard. The result is as one might expect, and powder got stuck under the clear coat layer in the diamonds. In one step, I messed up not just my own project but also Evan’s.

This was devastating, especially since setting up the powder coat and actually doing it took forever. If I sandblasted everything down, it would ruin all the work that had been done up to this point. I tried hand sanding, but because I used grit that was too low, it made the clear coat layer look… messy? But not completely awful.

I decided that I wanted to see the effect of sandblasting the clear coat layer, as I didn’t expect the clear coat layer to act the way it did with hand sanding. So I took my diamonds in and sandblasted once more.

The result was… not that bad of a look? I cleaned up the borders a bit and was surprised by how it looked.

I made up my mind, and went outside to clear coat the back of both of these diamonds. I had tried sandblasting the backs without the clear coat, but I couldn’t get the same effect. This was something that was only possible because I messed up. I cleaned up the borders of the two diamonds and tried to make them look consistent. I think this attempt was pretty successful, actually.

I taped my process out on the back, but with such a small area, it was difficult to express just what exactly I had been through trying to make these diamonds.

Cleaned work spaces:

Cost Analysis

Total Cost: $139.38

1/16″ Steel Sheet: $6.50

Powder Coat (about 2 oz.): $2.88

Unskilled Metalworker Labor (5 hrs): $50

Waterjet Use (1 hr): $25

Sandblaster Use (1 hr): $60

Conclusion

The worst part of this process was the feeling of messing up Evan’s diamond. If it was just mine, I wouldn’t care and would try to problem solve, but the error that happened that wasn’t even his fault just felt awful. What I’ve learned is that working in the OEDK alone increases the likelihood of such errors occuring. It’s uncertain whether the same mistake would have happened if I was clear coating while Evan was there rather than just doing it myself while he was on the way. If there’s something to be happy about, I’m glad that it happened on a lower stake project like this rather than one that may cause danger or risk to our safety, what with all the dangerous tools in the OEDK.