assignment: To construct a press-fit kit using either the laser
     cutter or the vinyl cutter.

     details: For this project I developed three designs. The first, 
     and most straightforward, was a simple 3D press-fit construction
     kit using a single primitive shape. I designed the shape in OODraw
     without introducing any additional processing tollerance under the
     assumption that I could make the necessary adjustments in the cam.py 
     application. My intial attempt, using colored 1/8" acrylic and the
     recommended settings proved ill-fitting. On my next iteration, I
     increased the contour offset from .00 to .01 and the pieces seemed
     to fit together well. When I took the shapes home and tried 
     assembing them though I discovered that there was more variablity 
     in the shapes than I had expected, resulting in a number of broken
     pieces. I returned to the lab and cut more pieces with roughly the 
     same result. It was only upon inspection of the burn patterns on the
     cut pieces that I realized that the material was warping during
     cutting, resulting in the variation I saw in my shapes. Fortunately
     I had enough well-fitting shapes to construct the simple model 
     depicted below. In general though it seems that acrylic tends to warp
     under laser cutting and some measure might need to be taken to
     ensure that the acrylic remains flat during cutting.


     

     

     

     -> OODraw .sxd file of construction kit

     My next design was a press-fit acrylic bike chain. The idea was to
     introduce rotational motion into an object built from 2-D pieces.
     With any luck I'll get this thing cut in the next few hours.

    -> OODraw .sxd file of chain

     My final design was a belt, again exploring the idea of introducing
     free rotation into an object built up entirely from 2-D peices.
     Additionally, this belt would include a crude latching mechanism
     the functioning of which will depend upon the flexiblity of the 
     arcylic material.

    -> OODraw .sxd file of belt