My PROJECT 101

Let’s Cut In

My goals are to create something that I can use upon leaving college. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to learn new tools. I started off thinking about doing a bed board or a lamp, but I soon realized the limitations of our schools laser cutter machine. However, not all of the laser cutter machines have the same size and cut limitations. This made me think about how uncommon these tools are. It’s not like your average printer that everyone has, or availability of printers that extend the limits. I choose to forgo these ideas because I didn’t want to substitute cut metal nor have my light be a “jigsaw” puzzle (I wanted a big light). So, my project idea changed into a combination, a light box, and from there I got excited while designing it and buying the materials and wanted to do picture frames that matched it.

My materials are wood and plexi glass. What I am unsure about and in need of some inspiration are plexi applications for color/surface change as well as how I want my light and if I what colored lights. Currently, I have my plexi glass cut. Some issues I had with it are: etching, cuts not going through enough, tight parts of my letters releasing differently. For the etching, my material must have had a bow in it or a difference in the plastic coating because a vertical part didn’t show up as deeply etched, some was even hard to see. The cuts on one of my pieces didn’t go as smoothly as the others; there was more effort in pushing it out. So, I waited till a later date to push it out finding it harder to push it out, leaving me to believe the plastic was still at a different temperature when I was pushing it out, then cooled again. That piece will have to be remade due to cracking during the “pop out stage.” For my letter cuts some of my o’s kept there middle, however for others it popped out. Smaller connections do have their limitations, however the detail that a laser cutter can accomplish is pretty impressive.

My next step is creating my “boxes/frames” 2 of them I would like to use the CNC on to create an interesting surrounding for my intricate laser pieces. I’m taking an image and using rhino to project its depths onto my piece. Currently, I have an idea of what I want, However, with the limitations of the CNC I could very well be surprised. CNC’s are based on bit size, speed, and even minor details like the vacuum being on or properly adjusting your piece at 0,0, etc. I just hope if it’s not my outcome that it’s a sweet serendipity. Although, having experience in the CNC will help me achieve my initial goal.

After that is picking a plexi-glass color or a colored background. Writing this I got a random idea of using a transparent material and printing on it for the pictures. I remember Sarah Pytlik doing and think it could be very intriguing to my piece. With that I can also light my picture frames, however, I worry about glare.

My project has already had some complications, some that were avoided and others that couldn’t be. With each time I use a machine I become more familiar with potential complications and can assess those before hand. For instance, when I cut my piece again I’m going to run the cut twice as well and make sure the surface is completely level.

I think what this process can teach is that machines like this offer us great opportunities, but they also have flaws, much like humans.