October 17, 2023
Similar to the previous assignments with 3D printing and CAD modeling, I have had some exposure to laser cutting but have never done it myself. Ever since the 3D printing assignment, I have felt motivated to utilize the Prusa printer more and found myself scrolling through lots of cool designs on Thingiverse. One of the designs that caught my eye was a 3D-printed jewelry holder in the shape of a tree. Through this past year, my necklace collection has grown, and I need a better method of storage and organization for them. However, once I read the description of this assignment, I knew I could kill two birds with one stone and laser-cut a jewelry tree.
When brainstorming the design, I liked the idea of using two wood cuts and interlock them in a + pattern with a bottom disk for added support. After some perusing online, I found a branch design I liked and decided to use the sketch picture method on Solidworks. I imported the picture and traced the outline of the branches. For some of the branches, I deepened the concavity so the necklaces would fit more secure and won’t slip off as easily.
For the interlocking mechanism, I made the length half of the height and width of 3 mm to account for the 3 mm wood panels available for laser cutting in Nolop. Using the measurements at the bottom of the tree, I made a disk that would fit the two planes and hold them in their interlocked position.
Once I had the three pieces sketched out, I created a drawing from the CAD file and exported it as a .ai file for Adobe Illustrator.
Nolop has a Universal VLS 3.60 laser cutter for students to use. Unfortunately, with the timing of this assignment, it overlapped with other engineering design classes, all with projects/assignments that involved using Nolop’s laser cutter. As a result, there was a long queue and I wasn’t able to cut it as early as I wanted to (to leave time for troubleshooting and redesigns). Another BME was in line before me for the laser cutter, so I was able to get a second exposure to the process (and by following the printed instructions) on what to do.
When it was finally my turn to print, everything worked very smoothly! Since my design didn’t have any engraving and just cutting, it was a very quick process and I was done in about 10 minutes. I was a little worried about the interlocking set up with the 3 mm measurements, but it all worked out well in the end.
Overall, I am quite pleased with how this turned out. It was surprisingly easy, the hardest part was designing it on Solidworks.
Going forward, I want to explore using a Slicer application to automatically convert a 3D model into something that can be used on the laser cutter and laser engraving a design onto the wood.
Laser cutting make unique cutting designs in in thick materials, such as large sheets of metal. These technologies can make complex cuts that traditional technologies wouldn’t have been able to do. Additionally, the laser cuts are easily replicated, which makes them very useful in large scale operations. Some things as basic as cutting a grid pattern into a sheet of metal can be done with great precision and efficiency versus traditional technologies. Laser engraving is another upside to laser cutting technologies. With the precision and speed of the engraving, it wipes previous engraving methods out of the park.
Overall, I am very excited to have this new skill. Recently, I find myself looking around my room and house, trying to find little trinkets or objects I can create using the laser cutter instead of buying from the store. From skills like these, I have a new perspective on the world around me, and everything seems so much more buildable.
