final project

What My Project is

When I was planning on my project, I knew I wanted to do something related to skiing. In the end, I ended with the Idea Of making a mountain range with the steamboat logo in the center. The mountain range is made out of plywood on the CNC Machine and the lettering is metal on standoffs to give it the appearance of floating letters.

Brainstorming

My first step was brainstorming. As mentioned, I wanted to do something ski-related, But I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do in the beginning. Ski resort logos were too simple, and making ski mountains was too complicated. So I ended an in-between I took a simplified ski mountain and turned it into the background, and then used the steamboat logo as a centerpiece.

First Step : illustrator

After coming up with my idea, my next step was to create it. I did this in Illustrator. I found several images of mountain ranges of similar art styles, and then I Traced them together, getting me my ski mountain background. To get my letters cut out on the plasma cutter, I found a high-quality image of the steamboat logo and then hand-traced the logo in Illustrator. After that, I exported my file to Fusion.

Step:Two Fusion

This is where I started to have problems pop up with my project my project had a lot of detail and a lot of aspects that I added together, and this caused Fusion to become very glitchy, not allowing me to do the necessary steps To get my project cut out after several days I was able to find it and fix all the errors and areas that were giving me problems. Once I got my file working, the steps were extruding up and down the parts of my project I wanted to be cut out. Next, I said the zero and created the stock that my project would be cut out of. I then generated my tool paths for this process; I also used rest Machining, Which allowed me to use a big drillbit taking out a lot of material at once and then have the machine switched to a smaller bit to get into small details on the inside of my mountain range. I then finally made a contour to cut the outside of my sign out.

All The Small Steps To Get My Project Ready

painting / masking

I painted my piece of wood a silvery Gray and then masked the layer to protect the spray paint from my next coat of paint once the machine had cut out my project

CNC prep

The final step before cutting my project out was to set up the CNC to cut out my sign. I did this by securing it to the table using masking tape and glue There was a small problem of the wood lifting off the glue because of the slight warpedness of the piece of wood.

Metal Letters In Illustrator

Creating the illustrator file for my Steamboat letters was relatively simple due to the fact that it is a flat item and not 3D like my sign, making the process a lot easier and similar to a laser cutter and printer. One aspect that I did have to think about was spacing the Letters Out so the plasma cutter wouldn't melt them.

Cut Out

Overall, my cutting was relatively successful, with my rest Machining working amazing allowing the small details in my piece to be shown without taking a ton of time. There was a small problem with the drill bit going all the way through on the right side. This is due mainly to inconsistencies in the wood. This was relatively easy to fix just by using the routing table to cut the little bit of wood left on the edge

plasma cutter

Getting the plasma cutter to work ended up being a longer problem than I initially expected, but through problem-solving, we were able to figure out what was wrong and then fix it. The Cutting was relatively easy and effective. After cutting, the next step Was preparing it to be powder-coated. The first step was to use a pair of pliers to take off any slag that got attached to my letters Whilst being cut, after removing the bulk of the slag, I then sanded down each of my letters to give them a smooth finish once they were powder coated.

Powder Coating

Powder coating was relatively simple and easier than I initially thought. in order to powder coat, I would electrically charge my plasma cut letters and then spray the powder coat o,n which would stick to the electric letters, and then I would put them in the oven for about 15 minutes for the powder coat to melt to the metal I would then let them cool and they would be done

final assembly

I now had all the pieces I needed to complete my project, with the last step being to assemble. To assemble, I used half-inch standoffs, which elevated my letters off of the backdrop of my CNC-cut mountain range. Using glue to attach the standoffs to the back of my letters, I then did some final touches with some paint, and my project was done. I wish I had polished it more, but overall, I like what I was able to get done.

reflection

What was the best question you were asked during the showcase?

The best question I was asked was, “I can imagine cutting that out with detail like that took a lot of time.” This person had CNC experience and knew that a small bit would allowed you to get details, but it took a long time. I was then able to explain to them that I used Rest Machining, witch switches bits after bigger bits take out the majority of the material that needed to be removed. This was a good question because I was able to explain a tool I learned that was relatively niche.

What was the hardest thing to explain during the showcase and how could you have done it better?

The hardest thing to explain was what I wanted my end product to look like due to the fact that my sign was currently not finished and didn't look great. In order to convey what my sign is going to look like if I did this presentation again, I would have a lot more of my Illustrator and Fusion files pulled open to show what my final product would look like.

3.What went well during this project?

I believe the part of this project that has gone well so far is my Machining and making of the project, with each piece of my project coming out with the look I wanted it to have. But I would have to say my single best part so far has been my plasma cut letters. These letters look great and add a good aspect to my project that wouldn't be possible to achieve with other tools and materials.

4.What challenges did you encounter?

My biggest challenge was in fusion and Illustrator for some reason, my project just seemed to have an endless stream of Errors coming up. When I tried to make it into a 3D object infusion, there were random points and objects In my file and random areas where the edges wouldn't connect. Overall, I had over ten different iterations just fixing things and trying to get my project to work. This put me significantly behind schedule to complete my project on time. There was still a gold lining to all the struggle due to the fact that I am now able to pick out and find Fusion errors with relative ease.

5.If you were to do this project again, what would you change?

My main change would be to spend more time making a smooth-out illustrator file that has been simplified and connected correctly to prevent errors up the road in fusion and cutting. I would also have just decided to sand down my initial piece of wood rather than keep the texture due to the fact that the masking tape doesn't like to stick to unsanded wood.

plan doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18tuceVgbJhz2bK2d5j861Ox2k6BeBqcIa_HhmyqxpbE/edit?tab=t.0

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