Hello everyone! In this blog post, I will describe the steps and process I used to create my metal cutting diamond. Having recently gotten into the game Balatro, I wanted to make a joker, and given we were cutting shapes out of metal, I chose the joker stencil card.

Designing the .ai File

After downloading the diamond outline template from canvas, I began designing the joker. I found the font used in-game here and downloaded it to Adobe Illustrator. One issue was that I had the letters “O” and “R” to cut, and the interior part of these shapes would disappear upon using the Waterjet cutter. Thus, I added bridges to the letters by converting the font to a vector path and manually drawing the bridge lines.

Next, I formatted the text and aligned it to the top/bottom corners along the diagonal. The final step now was to add the joker. I traced an image of the joker and smoothed the edges slightly to ease the path and cutting of the Waterjet.

Waterjet Cutting

Now that the file was ready, I could import it into the Waterjet cutter and begin cutting. Before cutting, I set up the file path, zeroed the origin, filled the water and garnet, and clamped my piece in place. Despite feeling the design was complex, and expecting the worst, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the Waterjet to see that the piece was identical to the file. I was afraid that the letters were too small and close to each other where they would lose their individual outlines, but this was not the case.

Post Processing

Now that the diamonds were cut out, I began post processing. Within minutes of taking the piece out of the Waterjet cutter, the cut edges began to rust. The first step I used to post-process was filing the outer edges of the piece. Doing so would remove some rust, but more importantly smooth the rough cut edges to the touch. After only a few passes with the file, the edge was already shiny and smooth.

Next, I sandblasted the surface and interior cuts of the piece. This process removed all impurities on the surface and edges, such as the rust, while also preparing a smooth, even surface for powder coating.

While the sandblasting worked to smooth the surface, it oxidized when I handled the piece and when exposed to air for only a couple minutes. Before powder coating, I re-sandblasted the surface before handling and wrapping it in a paper towel.

Finally, I decided to use a powder coat as the final post-processing technique for this piece as it provides a smooth and consistent finish. As the joker in the game has a white background, I wanted to finish this piece white, but the OEDK unfortunately did not have any white powder coat. Instead, I chose a satin black finish.

With Madison’s help during office hours, I set up the powder coating station and began to finish the piece. However, right as I was finishing my second diamond, the air compressor stopped working. Unable to fully finish, I put the pieces I had into the oven for 20 minutes to bake.

Overall, the pieces came out smooth and consistent, though there was one spot on the top corner of the back of one diamond I was unable to touch up before the air compressor broke. The front of the pieces came out well and smooth, without many visible irregularities in the coat.

Finally, I put a piece of tape on the back of the pieces, labelling the steps of post-processing I used for the piece.

Aside from the air compressor breaking during powder coating, this assignment went pretty smoothly. The Waterjet cutter created my pieces perfectly, and the post-processing techniques provided a clean finish.

Cost Analysis and Cleaned Workspace

Total Cost Estimate: ~$119

• Labor: (4 hours @ $10/hr) = $40
• 12″x12″ 14 ga. Steel Sheet = $10
• Waterjet Rental (1 hour @ $30/hr) = $30
• Sandblaster Rental (1 hour @ $30/hr) = $30
• Powder Coat Bottle = $9

The cost analysis is a rough estimate as machine rental costs were not needed since we used the OEDK equipment, and material costs reflect bulk supplies instead of how much material was used for this project.

Below are images of the cleaned final workstation used.