03 Computer-Controlled Cutting
Vinyl cutting fun! (Scroll down for Laser Time)
We use the Roland Camm-1 machine and I switched back and forth between Illustrator and Inkscape to turn these messy files (output from sketchup and Illustrator) into legible vectors. The first few patches were pretty messy, but getting the hang of it!
Clean image on Inkscape, just a little bit of hacking since I couldn't figure out how to make a clipping mask-type move. We'll get back to these two below.
The printer working away
And now it's sticker time! I experimented with just how small the cuts can be, and it looks like quite small works, though it requires patience.
Here are the finished results! The one on the left was a test with some mistakes (the lines were sliced through, not cut out as paths but strokes) so I put it on a leftover board at work. On the right is a 'good' sticker'
In addition to the Community Innovation Lab stickers, I made a few curator cutouts (see my bio)
These are going to be attached to printed color postcards and sent out as thank you notes. Will post final result once it's ready!
Also, learned about a new meaning to Raspberry Pi at an AS220 meetup. Slowly getting my nerd on (and next time I might even understand a word that was said..!) :)
Laser Time
This week was spent learning to use the laser and making a pressfit construction kit. Note to self - boxes are tough! Due to Nemo delays, I'm not quite finished with these 2 projects. I decided to use Illustrator for these once I learned that it's fairly easy to turn the press-fit tooth into a symbol and stamp along select lines. Also, using the compound path option makes it very easy to edit boolean operations.
The first is a simple shape - either a hexagon or a circle - that snaps together and forms into a customizable jewelry stand. I'll upload the final files once I have these right; for now just a screen grab of the second version .ai file. Also, I'm going to try using plexi for these.
The second project is an anniversary/Valentine's Day present for my boyfriend (it was a Friday the 13th Valentine's Day Massacre...). It's a pressfit box with a custom top, for which I used this image from the web. The spacing is almost right, though the corner tabs are just a hair too wide. I'm going to modify these and print the final out of wood - though for tomorrow he'll get the cardboard prototype.
The mistakes on these were very informative, and I'm starting to see how things are joined together everywhere I turn. See what's wrong with this combo? (hint: imagine opening the box by pulling apart the dancing couple)
I had to stare at the sides in physical space first to understand how to draw the bottom, which I did last. Initially drawn by following an inkscape tutorial, my box was asymmetrical. This didn't work for the hinges so I had to redraw all the sides - which is how one set of corners ended up too long. Thanks to James Rutter for his help, and his wooden hinged box for inspiration!
What's inside the box is not open source, but here and here are my .ai files as pdfs. Again, will post final versions when I fix the corners and probably the hinges as well.
