Laser & Vinyl Cutting

FEEL THE POWER

While I had lasercut in the past... I've never cut a material to be jointed together into a 3D object. I realized after many hours of perfecting my 3D drawing, I would have to disassemble and flatten it, to speak to the lasercutter.

Once I flattened the image and layed out all the pieces, I began to cut. I then realized the settings were completely wrong with the lasercutter and needed 3x more power than listed. After multiple passes, I pulled out the segments, only to realize that I need to build out the joints on four pieces. Unfortunately I couldn't build complex joints on tinker cad, so I made simple interlocking joints that allowed the seat to hold itself together. This is when I realized how important good joints are... I worked with another student to discover which joints worked best for him and realized that I would need to re-visit these joints later on, especially when it came time to 'build something big'.

I even built a flexible component! I created a pattern with diamond shapes to bend around the chair.

Then I decided to try to cut vinyl for the siding in order to show off some led lights later on...

Then I tried my hand at lasercutting, which I've never done before. It took me a few tries to get the file right, but once I got it plugged in, it was relatively easy to cut!

After that I crossed my fingers, and put it all together...