4. Computer controlled cutting¶
Team work¶
In the group task I learned that before ordering the Laser printer we must perform some calculations to find the speed and power that we must use with the machine and a third element, the calculation of the kerf
Kerf would be the amount of substance that is lost from the material at the time of cutting, which forces us to take into account during our design when establishing the parametric values.
Individual work¶
Parametric design and laser cutting¶
A way of designing where some of the dimensions of your designs are a mathematical function or a variable value according to a parameter
Design in algorithms¶
An algorithm is a prescribed set of instructions or rules that allows an activity to be carried out through successive steps. This ordered set of systematic operations allows to make a calculation and find the solution of a type of problema
Generative design¶
It is an iterative design exploration process that uses an AI-driven software program to generate a range of designs that meet a set of constraints.
Parametric design¶
For the CAD (Computer Aided Design), the elaboration of figures I used Fusion 360
I had to do tutorials to use the program Fusion 360 and with the help and advice of the instructors I managed to finalize my design. I entered the parametric values
Introduce step by step what I learned from Fusion 360:
- I entered the parameteric values
- Choose the work plane
- Select Create, then choose polygon, select design line and select center (these last two on the right of the screen)
- Create the polygon and straighten with constraint Start the design of the joint, always with design line or dotted. I used the parametrics values
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In create, select Circular pattern and then select the three lines of the union, click on the central point and select 6 sides
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This last step allows you to design that same joint on each side of the polygon
- The problem I had was that I see small circles at the intersections of the lines and I could only solve it by erasing, redrawing the line and then selecting it (press d) and changing the measure for the parametric value. I had to do it on all joins.
- And I end
- I save in file folder in dxf format
For the CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) I use the PowerCut for subsequent processing of the cut on the Laser machine (Cutting Tool)
The steps to follow were:
- Download the file to the Laptop
- I used the PowerCut for the last adjustments and to set the speed and power parameters of the cut
- Check that the file is ok
- Set power (60-70) and speed (20)
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Download to laser machine
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Locate the file in the desired cut position
- Calibrate the laser
- Control the framework of the work
- Give play
We then repeat the procedure with the intention of going over and duplicating the file for the 5 x 5 serial cut.
Completed Work
Design for work on vinyl
I first made the design in Fusion 360 and recorded it in dxf format, but when we transferred to another machine we confirmed that the file was incomplete (the letters were missing), which forced us to make the corrections with another program, the machine program (Rhinoceros).
Steps for vinyl printing:
- Download the file to the GreatCut
- Prepare the material to be printed
- Raise the lever of the spokes
- Place the vinyl
- Make the upper and lower rollers of the two sides coincide in order to achieve a good fixation of the material
- Lower the lever of the spokes
- Paper measurement
- Give play
Obs: we had to repeat the process several times to find the ideal cutoff point. In the first attempts, the vinyl was raised because the force value was very high.
The value of 100 was the ideal
Completed work !¶
