3. Computer controlled cutting

Assignments

group assignment:
- characterize your lasercutter's focus, power, speed, rate, kerf, joint clearance and types

individual assignment:
- cut something on the vinylcutter
- design, lasercut, and document a parametric construction kit,
- accounting for the lasercutter kerf,
- which can be assembled in multiple ways,
- and for extra credit include elements that aren't flat

Research

how to layer vinyl cuts

Throughout The Week

Group Work

I just cut the designs on The laser cutter and doccumented it on the group site.

Group Work Documentation

Vinyl Cutting

For vinyl cutting, I made a 4 layer turtle sticker. I have vinyl cut befor but have never layerd more than 2 seperate layers.

screenshot

I designed a turtle in photoShop by taking a geometric turtle from online and filling in the insides of each polygon.

screenshot

After I designed it I transferred it to Silohette-Studio so that I could select by color and get the different parts of the turtle. For the actual cuts I wanted I created one cut for every color of the turtle, making dark green the base to layer everything on and making the brown and light green layer two then going over with the black outline to add the finishing touches.

Once I got all of the colors I wanted I could finally put vinyl on the sticky grid and squeeze it on,so it does not move while cutting. Then I could hit send and it would cut. The settings I used for this cut where the vinyl glossy setting that's library had already been downloaded onto the software. This sets the blade speed to 5 out 10 and the depth to 4 out of 10. With these settings in place and all my design lined up with the vinyl in real life I was ready to cut.

screenshot
After cutting here is what all my pieces looked like

screenshot

To layer the vinyl I would put transfer tape on the piece/pieces then use the squeegee to make sure it stayed on what I wanted to transfer.

screenshot

Then I would line it up by putting one point on the base and then slowly lowering it so that it would perfectly line up with the base and the rest of the designI repeated that step with the shell, arms, and outline so that it was all perfectly lined up.

screenshot

after repaeting those steps I was done and put it up on the window.

screenshot

During the cutting, I noticed the preset for vinyl glossy was not working and I had to turn the force down because it was cutting through the back of the sticker I also mistakenly cut heat paper instead of vinyl but those were the only things I messed up and had trouble with. Otherwise, the vinyl cutting went well For my final project, I will make some labels and put them on the back with some instructions and warnings for later use.

PDF download

Laser Cutting

For laser cutting, I had to make a parametric construction kit that counts for kerf so that it can fit together perfectly. I decided to design a lot of pieces and even one that bends so that I can design all sorts of stuff with my kit.

screenshot

I started by designing all of my pieces in Fusion 360 so that I could use parameters. I went with finger joints but added a chamfer so that you don't have to put it together perfectly verticle. I designed a square, an arc, a hexagon, a straight piece for connecting, and a living hinge piece.

screenshot

While designing I set parameters so that I can change the size of everything depending on the material. for the kerf, I just added .002" from my original width for the material so that I did not have to make a kerf parameter.

screenshot

Once I was done with designing them in fusion 360 I imported them as a dxf file into Corel draw so that I could add different color lines so that it knows to score them instead of vector cutting them.

screenshot
screenshot

After I finished designing I sent it to the laser cutter. Once I opened it in CorelDraw on the laser cutter computer I hit print and then print again leading me to the settings menu. For this first cut, I cut out a bunch of squares and arches to make a circle. I set the vector to cardboard cut and then used the camera to align my cut on the cardboard in the laser cutter. Before I turned hit go on the laser cutter I turned on the vacuum to get all the smoke out of the cutter. Then I hit print.

screenshot

Here is what the laser cutter looks like while cutting.

screenshot
screenshot

Here are how my first cuts turned out. They fit together perfectly.

screenshot
screenshot

Once I got confident with my designs and cutting I decided to cut the more advanced designs. Here you can see my setting for them with me having scored on the boxes on the top so it can bed and the rest being a vector cut. then I lined them up on the same piece of cardboard saving as much space as possible and hit cut.

screenshot
screenshot

Here is how the pieces turned out. For the score marks, I realized after that they were just a little short so I used a thin flathead screwdriver and ran it across the score marks but in the future, I would just up the power on them.

screenshot
screenshot

Once I was done cutting out all my pieces I started seeing how I could put them together. Here are my 2 favorites, on the top, is a trophy maybe, and on the bottom I got the arch to line up with the living hinge to create a curving piece

DXF download

Summary

This Week I learned how to layer Vinyl cuts with more than two colors, helping me make more advanced stickers. With this, I learned how to design thinking about multiple layers at a time and how I would put things together. Also during this week, I strengthened my knowledge of how to use parameters in fusion 360 allowing me to design a parametric construction kit. Along with that while working with my group on the laser cutter I learned about how every setting truly affects the cut and this will all help me in designing my box for my final project.

Files

PDF - Turtle download
DXF - Parametric-kit download