lazer cutting

My lazer cutting learning was not a very smooth curve at the beginning. It was hard to understand the logic of FreeCAD initially but with a little help from new friends I was able to pick up fairly easily. I began with a very very simple diagram of two interlocking planes.

For the longest time i couldnt figure out why my lines were not turning green. Zach was quickly able to show me that the constraints of the object WRT to the axes had to be locked into place.

With this in place half the battle had been fought. I only had to ensure I remembered the correct keys to log into the lazer cutter.

Finally I was able to cut.

I saw some people had kept 4mm to account for the thickness of the cardboard. Others works with 3.7mm. 3.9mm seemed like a good compromise.

and it worked! i think it worked too well. I wasnt able to pullt he pieces apart easily.

I should have stuck to 3.9mm. But instead I decided to work with 4 for the parametric design. I decided to work with a very simple interlocking tower.

This image of a zoomed out fully constained diagram looks beautiful - this is 2d good abstraction of a 3d object. I think i will work with this kind of image abstration in forthcoming artwork.

Once I transfered the vector onto Coral draw it was ready to print. The joint, as can be seen, and which i will later reaslise is too shallow. I should have made it an interlocking joint for best results.

I did not have the right settings. It was pointed out to me that the 'expand' key had not been activated so that the whole board could be used.

I realised, again, that i couldn't possibly make a towered object without more than two interlocking parts. I would need four joint locations. With this change i was sure everything would work.

What i feared did come true. the joints were too loose. at present the structure is a bit wobbly but I know know how to fix it (back to 3.9mm, more space for joints, and work with inter-locking them).

I learnt a lot during this process. Most important has been to understand how to make a 3d diagram. I am looking fwd to doing more! FreeCAD is a lot of fun.