15. Wildcard Week¶
The city of Cusco in Peru is one of the super interesting places, it is well known for its artists, customs and above all for having a great cultural variety and hosting visitors from all over the world, for this reason we have decided to carry out an activity that involves art and culture. On stone, the laser engraving for this week, capturing a very representative image worldwide. Macchu Picchu.
Check List Assignment.¶
| item | Activity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| task 1 | Documented the workflow(s) and process(es) you used | DONE |
| task 2 | Described problems encountered (if any) and how you fixed them | DONE |
| task 3 | Included original design files and source code | DONE |
| task 4 | Included ‘hero shot’ of the result | DONE |
Design¶
We proceed to generate our design, but before that it is important to make measurements on our material to work with.
Material measurement¶
Here we use a tape measure to obtain the actual dimensions to work with according to the measurements of the sample to be processed.
Here you have the next dimension, 105mm long.
Here you have the next dimension, 73 mm long.
Design Preparation¶
In preparing the design, we will rely on CorelDraw software. This program works well with vectors, which we need for the laser to understand, translating the design into laser movements and projection. The dimensions are assigned, but we won’t assign any raster or cutting functions to the contour. (This is just a guide.)
Here, we import an image so that the image can be engraved on the stone, so we must convert it to vectors, according to the image shown.
Now, we see the levels of detail we want to obtain, we play there with the vertical indicators
The final design shown would be as follows: a green line outline that would only serve as a guide, the logo in blue for the corresponding marking, and finally the main design in black for the engraving.
We’ll make changes to the equipment properties to obtain a good result. The following changes have been made: - BLACK: Speed - 18 mm/s / Power - 90% - GREEN: Speed - 90 mm/s / Power - 4% (Disable Raster-Vector-Air functions) - BLUE: Speed - 20 mm/s / Power - 85%
As for the PPI function, which stands for pixels per inch, I don’t usually vary it much so as not to delay the creation of the work too much.
Now, let’s get to work…
Once the material type, cutting parameters, equipment, and design have been validated, we’ll begin the work, but not before calibrating the equipment.
Calibration and Adjustments¶
We will adjust the focal height of the lens towards the material.
We will also adjust the position of the projection, the red light is the positioning laser.
We review the parameters shown on the screen, it is simply to validate.
Here, we press the start button
Work in progress
Work completed
Here a cleaning was done so that it looks much better.
Final Finish¶
Nearing the end, I helped myself with some tools: a concealer and a razor blade. These were used to try to achieve a more even contrast.
This is the final result, with the modifications made, for better visualization
Download Link¶
LEARNING, FINDING AND LESSONS¶
The lessons I learned are: - Designs will always be worked with vectors, or at least vectorized if they are in the form of an image. - Check the lines to be used, the colors to be used, and their respective parameters. - Don’t forget to calibrate the focal lens height. - Most importantly, wear the PPE required for this task.