Computer-controlled Cutting

Assignement

• Cut something on the vinylcutter
• Design, lasercut, and document a parametric press-fit construction kit.

Vinylcutter

I decide to make some logo for my computer, I choosed to make one for DuckDuckGo search engine and another for Free Software Foundation. But they're not that easy since they have different colours.

I downloaded duckduckgo logo and change some of its colour for the vinylcutter software to recognise them.

I imported duckduckgo image in vinylcutter software.

The duckduckgo logo is made of different colours, though I didn't have the exact colour I choosed to replace those I don't have with the ones I have.

For free software foundation I had the exact colours and the work was straight forward even if I faced some issue with the old blade which did damaged the paper, but it was not a big deal. I replaced the blade and everything was fine.

After the cutting I had to combine different pieces of the logo fo the final logo. It was a challenging task and at the end I enjoyed it.

And you can see how beautiful it is. The below image is for FSF logo, also beautiful.

Also for FSF logo I imported in vinylcutter software (cutstudio).

Lasercutter

On the lasercutter I made a round-squared shape and made it parametric.

I started with a square shape and pocketed it where it will act like joint when combining with other part.
After inserted a cylinder for giving it a round like shape where after I made intersection between the square and the cylinder to get the final part.

First I made a square shape of 80 mm of width.

I sketched where I wanted to pocket.
I used parametric design in sketching which is method of linking dimensions and variables to a function in a such way that when the values of that function change, the part changes as well.

After pocketing the square shape, I inserted a cylinder inside the square shape and made an intersection of the two shape to give the final result.

This is the final shape I made.

From there I converted the design I made into DXF file to be used in printing.

For printing my design I imported the design I made into corelDraw software, and I duplicated my design to print many parts.

This is a screenshot of the epilog machine settings for printing on the wood.
The most important settings I choosed on the Epilog engraver properties was on:

Job Type I choosed the vector because my intesion was to cutt-off the parts I was engraving with the laser cutter.

Piece size I entered the horizontal and vertical size of the board I was going to work on.

Vector setting I setted the speed to 14% so the laser can have enough time to cutt the board through it, and the power was at the maximum, depending on the material thickness you need to maximise the power of the lasser so it can cut through it.

After cutting all parts I made in laser, assembled them to create something with them.

Files used