Week 1: Vinyl Cut & Laser Cut

PART I | Laser cutter characteristics (group work)

  1. adjusting focus

  2. testing with power, speed and rate

    We start with using the recommended setting: power 100, speed 2.5, rate 200, which worked very well.

    Then, we decided to mess around and see what will happen if we lower the power and increase the speed.

    We ended up with lightly scored line in the cardboard, nothing was cut through.

  3. measuring kerf and joint clearance

    For kerf, we drew a freehand line in coraldraw, just to see how the laser will eat away the material. This turned out to be 2mm.

    However, when actually cutting shape out, the kerf seems to be much thinner, less than 0.5mm.

    For joint clearance, we measured the thickness of cardboard, which is 4mm.

    To get a perfect fit between pieces, we tested with multiple numbers around 4. And 3.9mm turned out to be the best fit.

  4. playing with raster setting

    Besides cutting with vector lines, we also did some experiment with raster cut.

    We used speed 70 and power 50, which did not burn enough material off that the image turned out to be very subtle.

PART II | Laser Cut Press-fit Kit

  1. design & calculation

    My plan is to make a 'weekend get-away' house for my cat Mona. After some online research, a geodesic dome seems appropriate for her.

    To make the construction as simple as possible, I went with the 2v geodesic dome.

    Given that Mona is still a kitten, I decided that 250mm is enough for the height of the dome.

    Based on the height, the rest of dimensions were calculated through online dome calculator.

    2v dome calculator

    Two types of triangular panels are involved: one equilibrium, and one equilateral.

    To connect these panels, two different kinds of connector is required.

    dihedral angle

    However, there are no direct information on the dihedral angles for 2v dome. So I trusted some dome forum and used 18 and 22 for my design.

    2. how to find out dihedral angle for 2v dome panel construction

  2. parametric drawing & cutting

    I made the design in rhino with a joint clearance of 3.9mm, and I cut them on the laser cut with power 100, speed 2.5, rate 200.

  3. construction phase

    Following the instruction from online tutorial, I connected all pieces together besides one near the top so that Mona have a hole to enter and exit.

  4. application & user's feedback

    I brought the dome home, and the hole turned out to be too small for Mona to enter.

    So I got rid of another adjacent panel, and Mona successfully entered.

    5. Mona seems to like the dome, though she soon became more attracted to the one panel that I took off from the dome.

    She chase the lonely panel as if it is a rat...

    Mona and her 2v dome

PART III | Vinyl Cut Exercise

  1. original image

    This is, again, my cat Mona, with her best friend/enemy Lisa.

  2. converting image to vector lines

    I used image trace in IA to do this.

  3. cutting & peeling

    I went through three different power setting to get the peeling part to work.

    First I started with power 70 and speed 20cm/s, but many lines were not cut through.

    Then I tried 80 for power, still not peeling very well.

    Finally power 100 worked.

  4. stick in place