CNC nameplate

About the project

We were tasked with creating some form of sign/nameplate using both our skills from Adobe Illustrator and the new skills we learned from Fusion 360. the sign had to be multifaceted and have text and some form of visual imagery.

3d name

We started our project in Adobe Illustrator. In Adobe, I really started by conceptualizing my idea. My idea was to have a 3d nameplate that looked 3d on a 3d object. I started by modeling what the final sign would look like.

Fusion export

After modeling the entire sign, I went back and started to separate and remove the lines that would be laser cut and the lines that would be CNC'd out. You might ask why I did not just model this right away. There are two reasons. First, it was very hard to get the correct proportions when I tried directly modeling the CNC cutout. The second was so that I could fully visualize my idea.

Fusion 360

After designing the cutout in Adobe Illustrator, I uploaded it to Fusion 360. There I extruded the nameplate to make it 3d. Then I created a new setup and proceeded to make the tool path for the cut on the CNC. I used both the 1/4 and 1/8 in bits to make a rough and finishing cut. the 1/4 in bit was used mostly for clearing and the 1/8 in bit was used to make more square corners. Then glued it down and cut the nameplate out of 3/4 in plywood.

laser cutting

After I had made the lines for the CNC and moved over to Fusion, I came back to figure out what lines I had to laser cut in to make the illusion work. After painfully figuring out the lines I needed to laser cut I put my CNC'd piece onto the laser cutter and cut the lines ontop of the CNC'd nameplate.

Reflection

The thing that went best with the project was I really improved and felt confident with my skills in both Fusion and Adobe. The thing I could have improved the most was the precision of the nameplate. The idea was well executed, but some of the lines were a little bit off, and it really took away from the illusion that It was trying to create. If I did this project again, I would try to add more to the idea and be more efficient in how I designed it. The idea was very cool, but in the end, I felt like I was missing something, and the illusion did not turn out the way I really wanted it to.

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