Okay, this one was better, you’ll have to admit lol.

Anyways, this blog post is all about waterjet cutting and creating two diamond tiles that look hopefully identical. This machine was definitely a learning curve. It was definitely tired of us using it and it took some time to properly set up so we could use it. First, I prepared my diamond tile where I wanted to do CTRL which is one of my favorite albums and I also think a lot of how that word represents itself in my life. I also thought it would be cool to leave one of the letter not completely cut because as someone who tends to be a perfectionist and want control over everything sometimes its good to adjust when things don’t go absolutely perfect and leaving the letter there would defintely help represent that.

First things first, we had to clean the workspace because the waterjet machine was a mess. We had to drain it, which took some troubleshooting along with cleaning out some of the garnet residue. We also refilled the garnet and found new clamps to properly clamp the piece down.

To maximize our time, we decided to do a group cut as you can see us merging our files together. As we finish setting, up and the design has been running for a little bit. We saw an image of the water jet machine overflowing and made us think about double checking on ours since we were unsure if the drain was at the right level. To our suprise, it wasn’t and so we needed to pause an course correct. After draining out some of the water, we left the drain at a certain level to ensure the water will stay at a good level as our design completes.

After I I sand blasted for about 15 minutes to smoothen the surface for spray paint. I decided to spray paint it green to match the album and also give off a serene vibe. While I was waiting for the spray paint to dry, my pieces went through some harm. The drying was full and so leaving it on the table, meant that it was splattered by other people’s objects. Knowing this now, I defintely should have been better about where I left my object so it would’ve came out cleaner but still proud of all the work that went into it.

With this process, I learned the importance of patience and trouble shooting. I was at the OEDK for about 5 hours and I started to lose my marbles a little bit towards the end. I defintely learned to start my projects earlier to account for the machine wait times and other things of that nature and so I can submit pieces I am extra proud of :).

Oh I almost forgot, but here’s the cost breakdown:

1 by 1 ft steel sheet: 12.99

Labor (10/hr): 30

Water Jet Cutter Cost: 20/hr

Spray Paint: 4.98

Sand Blaster: 20 (Sand Blasted for 15 minutes and rate is about 50/hr)