16. Wildcard Week¶
This is the assessment for this module:
Design and produce something with a digital fabrication process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.
Laser cutting Bioplastic¶
I decided to create a basic bioplastic and to cut and engrave it with the laser. This is the recipe I followed:
First attempt - Sieve¶
I started pouring all the ingredients into the pot.
Once the mix started to become thicker, I poured it on a sieve.
Then I waited few days and checked the result. Unfortunately the sieve was not the proper method for the bioplastic drying process. Cloth and gelatin mixed and became a unique thing.
Second attempt - Solid surface¶
So I started the whole process again, but this time I poured the mix on a solid surface.
This time the bioplastic dried in 24 hours, and this is how it looks:
Laser cutting¶
I made a simple file on Illustrator and then I prepared the bioplastic for the cutting process.
I made multiple cuts, since I started with very high cut speed. I kept the laser cut power at 60%, then I moved from 30 speed to 1, doing 5 cuts. This is the final result:
Conclusions¶
I really appreciate the fight against plastic in order to save the environment, but I think that I wouldn’t go on producing my own bioplastic. I’ll let the professionals do the work, since this material stinks like wet dog. It is a really useful material and I believe that biomaterials are going to be the future, but I’m sticking to the more common materials for now.