Vinyl Cutter
Using Silhouette Studio, I dragged and dropped my current company logos into the program.
![](img/vc1.jpg)
The trace tool was then used to extract the outline from the logos.
![](img/vc2.jpg)
Due to the parameters not set correctly, part of the trace was missing.
![](img/vc3.jpg)
Using trial and error, I was able to figure out how to perfectly extract the full trace. I positioned them so the Alurays was the largest due to ‘Lighting Technology’ being written in very small.
![](img/vc4.jpg)
For cutting, I used the red paper and stuck it onto the cutting board.
![](img/vc5.jpg)
Aligning the arrows of the machine, I positioned the board and noticed some areas were not perfectly covering but guessed it would be within my design.
![](img/vc6.jpg)
As the machine starting cutting, I noticed it would slowly skew to one side, lifting part of the paper off of the board as it touches the edge.
![](img/vc7.jpg)
Everything turned out perfect except the very end with Retro’s logo, since that’s when the paper was lifting off the board.
![](img/vc8.jpg)
The ‘a’ in Alurays was also totally messed up as it was left till the very end.
![](img/vc9.jpg)
I enjoyed using the Vinyl cutter quite a lot, and realized it’s extremely easy to use, as long as you set up the cutting board properly.
Laser Cutter
I enjoy sailing quite a bit whenever I get the chance to do it, and so I could resist building one. To laser cut, I went back to my favorite program, SolidWorks, and started sketching a sailboat from a top view.
![](img/lc1.jpg)
Using the spline tool, I curved the sides.
![](img/lc2.jpg)
I then added 20mm slots, 4mm deep. I tried using the pattern tool to replicate them but that didn’t work due to the spline.
![](img/lc3.jpg)
To add height to the boat, I sketched a rectangle to cover the circumference of the boat. For the slots to connect, the rectangle also needed equal and opposite slots.
![](img/lc4.jpg)
Since the rectangle was a straight line, I was able to use the linear pattern tool to easily finish off the slots. Not all the slots were equidistant, so the pattern was only used for the sides.
![](img/lc5.jpg)
Moving to the cutter. I imported the files and started cutting right away. As I didn’t really think about the order, everything turned out wrong. The outline of the boat was cut before the slots, causing the slots to be skewed.
![](img/lc9.jpg)
The rectangle slots were cut as closed boxes, also resulting in a slot-less design. A big fail!
![](img/lc10.jpg)
Going back to the software, I fixed the order to avoid conflicts.
![](img/lc11.jpg)
Still didn’t get a perfect result due to parts of the boat tilting during the cut. I think this is because the board wasn’t secured properly onto the platform.
![](img/lc12.jpg)
Finally, I assembled the pieces and they surprisingly stuck together quite nicely, without assistance or glue.
![](img/lc13.jpg)
Group Assignment
Before using the laser cutter, we carried out a group assignment to test out the power and speed.
![](img/glc1.jpg)
The results weren’t too informative, as we didn’t notice consistent differences, however, we better understood the tolerances of the machine, which helped us with our designs.
![](img/glc2.jpg)