The final project was a semester long project that we could build what every we wanted as long as it was big. We also had to use 3 of the machines in the innovation center to build the project. My project was a topography map of forest lake in land o' lakes Wisconsin. I did this by cutting out layers of the lake in wood and gluing the layers together. I used the laser engraver, 3D printer and the cnc router to finish my project. everyone had different projects but they all had to be big and use 3 or more machines
The First Steps
The File
my first layer
My final file I still had to delete everything on that file except the first 60 foot layer on the very bottom. So the picture on the right is only half way done but I got to cut out the bottom layer. I got to relearn the ins and outs of illustrator when making this file because of how many layers that all had to fit together perfectly. From that file I took it down to the laser engraver to have the first layer cut out. The laser engraver was my first machine.
The Next Layers
The second layer was still very simple but the time to cut it out was taking longer. the challenge was aligning the layers came to mind and I came up with a way to line up the files on illustrator and the ucp software. I made a small square that always went in the top right corner of the file. I lined up the small square to the top corner of the UCP file and they all would line up.
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The Final Layer
My final layer took an hour and a half to fully engrave and cut out. My first attempt was not successful because my wood caught on fire when cutting the outline. I had to use my extra layer to cut out top piece. After I figured out why it caught on fire I retired and it was successful. My top layer had engraved compass rose, road maps of around the lake, the location of where my cabin is in the lake and the date my family bought the cabin.
Gluing
The top layer was very off of the bottoms layer which was a big problem since I would need to cut the over and under hang and that would make the map a lot smaller than I originally planned. This was caused by the fact I did not have the square in the top right making sure it is all aligned because it would take away from the design of the top layer. As I glued more layers I used more weights to hold the layers flat.
3D Printed Stand
For My second machine I used the 3D printer to print a stand for my map. I made a design in inventor original but the dimensions were too big for the printers we had. So I had to shorten the base and shift how it was printed. Finally it fit and I started the 40 hour print. May small issues that happened while printing including some of the filament burning on the part. You can see the imperfections on the final product.
You can see the burn areas of the stand, where the printer burned the filament. I just had to remove the supports printed and the stand was ready.
Cutting the Extra Wood
After I finished the router I sanded the sides to get rid of the sharp edges. As well as prevent people from getting splinters. I also sanded the top to make the front smoother and look better. This was the last step of my project After this the unit was complete.
Final product
What I Learned
One big Skill I learned through out this semester is time management. How I used it is I balanced working on my final project and heat press as well as Arduino projects. Some examples is by doing multiple tasks in one day. Like when i was gluing my layers for my final project, while I waiting I did Arduino projects. Another example is When i was printing my Stand I was doing my Heat press project. I also made illustrator files while I waited for the laser engraver to cut out my layers.
Some more skills I learned was I furthered my knowledge of illustrator. Like how different strokes and fills did certain things on the laser engraver. As well as how to edit outlines and laser paths. I also learned how to use fusion 360 and the CNC router. Because in my IDEA class we did not learn how to use those. I learned the different between a 2D contour and a adaptive clearing. I also helped many other people learn especially on the heat press project.
Some more skills I learned was I furthered my knowledge of illustrator. Like how different strokes and fills did certain things on the laser engraver. As well as how to edit outlines and laser paths. I also learned how to use fusion 360 and the CNC router. Because in my IDEA class we did not learn how to use those. I learned the different between a 2D contour and a adaptive clearing. I also helped many other people learn especially on the heat press project.