This week, the assignment was to metal cut and post-process. To start, I designed my diamonds in Adobe Illustrator. I used my personal logo with a matching star cutout as a place to put a ribbon or ring to use as a keychain in the future.

Designing in Adobe:

In the next step, I used the water jet cutter to cut the shapes. However, in this step, I encountered an issue. After we looked at the piece, it seemed that the water jet cutter cut the outside before the inside, so when it started cutting the inside, the machine got stuck on the piece and was not centered. Because of this, I had to recut the piece.

failed attempt #1:

This time, I reformatted it so that it would cut the inside of the shape before moving to the outside of the shape. Thankfully, that worked!

Formatting and cutting in the water jet cutter:

After the machine finished cutting, I moved on to the first step of my post-processing. I sandblasted the piece, as it also chipped away some ridges on the edges. I sandblasted for quite a while, because I knew I wanted something that was super smooth at the end (using the angle grinder).

Sandblasting:

Next, I moved on to the next step. I used a file to file any rough edges, and to make everything smoother throughout.

Filing the edges of the diamond:

I was really excited for the next step because I wanted to make my piece really shiny. I used the angle grinder for a LONG time, but I got a finished that I really liked.

angle grinding (Left) A before and after (Right):

The next steps are where things got a little rocky. The powder was not sticking to the top of my diamond, but thankfully, I figured it out in time. The powder coated the teeth of the thing that provided electricity, so it was blocking the electrical current. I put vinyl on the shiny side of my diamond, per instruction of a TA (not their fault, I should have done my own research) but the vinyl unfortunately baked onto my angle-grinded surface. Because of this, I had to go in again to re-angle-grind the diamond, which messed up the powercoated side of the diamond as it was stuck to the magnetic slab. I was going to go in to redo it, but seeing that it was a requirement and the machine was broken, I was unable to recoated. That being said, however, I am still very happy with how it turned out.

powedercoating and a sad mistake :

 

Final product:

Conclusion:

I am really happy with the final product — especially the angle-grinded side. It is shiny, but has an organic look. I feel like it might have looked too artificial with just a smooth surface. I was also happy with how much of the vinyl I was able to get off. Overall, I would probably do more research about the mediums I can use between machines, and I’ll take the vinyl off before the baking or put something that is bake safe next time. Also, I would make sure to cut the inside design before the outer design in future cuts. Other than that, I think every step went really smoothly, and the final product is pretty!

Cost breakdown:

Steel Sheet – 24” x 38” x 1/8”: $14.48

Powder Coat Kit: $149.99

Powder Coat Oven: $139.99

Powder Coat Powder: $9.99

Angle grinder use and sandpaper: $5

Labor: $16.94/hr, around 4 hours of labor = $67.76

Total: $387.21