Week 3: Computer-Controlled Cutting

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Individual Assignment: Vinyl Cutting Project

Materials

Setup: Vector Image Adjustment in Illustrator

I used my vector painting image as the material for vinyl cutting.

Before cutting, I did some adjustment so that the path of the blade could work as my expectation. In order to simplify the vectors of my image, I chose which layer is going to be trimmed with another one. I did this by clicking the Trim option of the Pathfinders dialogue box in Illustrator.

After this, I refilled the color of different parts and grouped parts with the same color.

Fabrication: Roland GX-24 Vinyl Cutter

The finished file was then sent to the machine wainting for cutting. First, I measured the width of the inserted material sheet by selecting the EDGE mode.

Then, since I was going to cut the same image 6 times with 6 colors, I chose Output Selected Lines option, selected the first mirrored layer and clicked Output the Paths.

After the cutting was done, I pressed MENU then ENTER button to exit the cutting mode.

I kept the parts I would like to transfer to a T-shirt.

T-Shirt Heat Transfer

Finally, we used a heat press machine for transfering the cutting image to a T-shirt. The machine should be heated up to 165℃ to make sure it can transfer the pattern successfully. Since there are total 6 layers I would like to transfer to the T-shirt, I pressed each layer (except the last yellow layer) and waited for 3 seconds then changed to the next one (normally 12 seconds for total 1 layer).

I was lucky to find a reflecting sheet in a trash box, which results in a cool T-shirt with a fancy cat.

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Group Assignment: Characterize Our Laser Cutter

Link to Documentation Page

Materials

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Individual Assignment: Laser Cutting Project 1 - Parametric Press-Fit Kit

Material Sheets + Cutting Parameters

Design Tool: OpenSCAD

I defined 3 modules (base_shape(), sheet_kerf() and chamfer_kerf()) and differenced them to form the final combination. I can transform some features by simply changing the values of laser_kerf_width, sheet_thickness, sheet_kerf_length, etc.

It is convenient to use a for loop function in OpenSCAD to generate multiple units at once.

Cutting Tool: Illustrator

It is important to make sure that the stroke width of all the cutting vectors is set to 0.001 with #000000 black color.

Then I opened the Print dialogue box and did the following settings step by step.

Here is a table for the setting of Fablab's laser cutter according to the thickness and the material of a cutting sheet.

Below is the documentation of the laser cutting process:

End Result

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Individual Assignment: Laser Cutting Project 2 - Living Hindge

Material Sheets + Cutting Parameters

Design Tool: OpenSCAD

Since it is normal to use linear pattern to build a living hinge, I was intereseted in exploring more possibilities to construct other kinds of living hinges. I found some discussion about how to build a living hinge from the OpenSCAD forum. I then used 4 modules as a reference and experimented them by transforming them and changing their parameters.

End Result

The sheet with different patterns has distinct flexibility.

Below is the documentation of the laser cutting process: