Independent: Air Freshener Cover

Brainstorming

My original idea was to make a car air freshener cover to make an air freshener look cute and stylish. The covers will be flowers that can be placed around the air fresher in your car.

The front of the cover will be a small tray cut by the CNC, then engraved with the flower design by the laser cutter. The backing can be CNCed or laser cut then attached to the front tray.

What You Need

MATERIALS

1/4 inch wood (at least 4 x 2.5 inches)
1 inch wood (at least 2.5 x 2.5 inches)
Masking tape
Sander/ sandpaper
Epoxy (+bucket and popsicle sticks for mixing)

EQUIPTMENT

Computer (windows- to communicate with the laser cutter)
Helix laser cutter (Epilog Laser)
CNC machine

SOFTWARE

Adobe illustrator
Fusion 360

Step One

DESIGN SUPPORT STRUCTURE

The support structure for the air freshener has to be attachable and come on and off so that the air freshener can be removed when it runs out. you can start by drawing out the basic structure of your design on adobe illustrator(explained on keychain page) but then its best to move onto fusion to create specific dimensions because its important to have exact measurements for this project for the attachment mechanism to work.

In fusion you can either import your designs from adobe or recreate those shapes with fusion (i chose the latter). once your shapes are drawn out you can start dimensioning (start by pressing the d key on your keyboard). by clicking a line you can find and edit its length. you can also set the distance between to lines or you can equate two lines so they will always be the same length, these are all very helpful tools you can use to make exact measurement so that your supports will fit snugly into and around your air freshener.

Step Two

LASER CUT SUPPORT STRUCTURE

This step involves moving onto a windows computer and printing to the laser cutter (keychain page). once you have finalized your design in fusion and you think your dimensions are good you send the file back to adobe, save it and send it to a windows computer. once you have it on the windows computer you will open the file on that computer and check that the file will communicate well with the laser. then print and it will take you to the laser cutter software where you can check that everything is correct and ready to print and once its all checked (keychain page) you can send it to the laser where you can then run the job.

once the job is done you can take it off the printer and some assembly is necessary. The round piece that goes behind the air freshener will glued to the square pieces which will have the small Ts attached to them. these pieces together will be the back portion of the support structure and the large rectangle will eventually attach to the cover.

after the first run some pieces might not fit exactly right and it might be necessary to make changes to the dimensions in fusion based on what doesnt fit in the structure. once these edits are made you will have to restart the printing process.

Step Three

DESIGNING THE COVER

The cover is a CNCed flower that will attach to the front of the support structure. this design can again, start in adobe and be moved into fusion for modeling, or start in fusion. the original 2d design of the flower must be the basic design of the flower and a larger rim-ish version around it so that it can make a tray like structure. this will have to be 3d modeled in fusion so the first sketch is an extrusion(cnc sign) of the whole large shape. the second part of the model is a small extrusion of just the outer part on top of the other extrusion so that there is a rim around the cover. to do this you have to start a sketch on top of your extruded model and extrude the new sketch further above the bottom model.

you will then have to go through the setup steps of 3d modeling (cnc sign page). this includes creating a manufacture setup and 2d contour (cnc sign page). be sure thought, to only 2d contour the outside of the flower because there is another step for the inside tray. in oder to 2d contour the inside of the tray you will have to create a 2d pocket. to do this you select "2d pocket" then select the top face of the model. then you will follow the same steps of a 2d contour from there.

once your setup and 2d contour are done you can post process (cnc sign page) and send your job to the cnc machine via email.

*remember to save as you work so that you don't lose your progress*

Step 4

MOVE TO THE CNC MACHINE

once you have sent your job to the cnc you can move to the cnc and finish your work there. you must first set up the cnc (cnc sign). this includes going on the cnc computer where you can find and select your job, gluing your project to the cnc, and setting the origin at the top left front corner of your stock. you can then run your job.

once your job has been run it may be necessary to finish your job by sanding with sandpaper to smooth edges or if you decide, pain the final project.

after you have removed your project from the cnc you can put epoxy in the tray of the flower cover. to make the epoxy get a squirt from each bottle and mix for one minute. then add color if you want and keep mixing until the color is evenly mixed. then pour and fill to the rim of the tray then blow away bubble then let sit for 48 hours.

the final assembly you have to make is to attach the flower to the larger rectangle piece.

Reflection Questions

What went well during this project?
What challenges did you encounter?
If you were to do this project again, what would you change?

*i felt like it was easier to just answer all three questions in one so thats what i did here, i hope thats ok*

I had a lot of fun doing this project. There was so much reasoning and changing of ideas that went with this project, and though it got frustrating at times, I feel like I could work through it and make changes easily. I was given the flexibility to make errors and retry. I think the most challenging thing about this project for me was that the measurements had to be almost 100% accurate for the support structure to work. It wasn't until I moved onto Fusion and was really able to make those measurements accurately and change them easily that this project actually worked out. If I were to do this project again, my first move would be to start the project on Fusion and not even worry about Adobe. This project was by far the most challenging because there were so many factors I had to work through by myself without direct instructions from Mr. Supiro because he was also there having to work through it with me, and we didn't already have the exact solutions. But that was exactly what made it so fun and exciting. This project was definitely a learning experience for me, but I'm grateful for it because I feel like I can work through anything now.

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