Fish Sign

Summary Of Project

For my big final project, I decided to take my current knowledge from my heart sign and apply it to my fish sign. For this project, I had my most complex design yet. I used

Materials

MacBook Laptop
Adobe Illustrator
Fusion 360
CNC machine
Chestnut wood
1/8 inch yellow acrylic
1/8 inch green acrylic
Epilog laser cutter
West System epoxy Resin
West System epoxy hardener
Blue and White pigment
Sparkling blue pigment
glitter pigment
wooden popsicles sticks
measuring cup in ounces
super glue
plastic cup
paint brush
paper stencil
spray paint (black, brown, grey)
Paper towel
Wood Finish
Thickset clear casting epoxy
tablel level
Tabel Lever
flame thrower

Designing On Computer

Adobe Illustrator

I first started my project by sketching on a whiteboard to figure out how I was going to put my idea into reality. once I had my sketch and knew the layout and the steps I had to take for my fish sign I began designing in Adobe Illustrator. first I found a picture of a fish that I like to outline and I inserted that image into my Adobe Illustrator. I then use the pen tool to sketch the fish outline of the image I found online. I then hit an object, pass the offset path, and delete unnecessary lines to get a frame-looking shape from my original one-line outline. I then grouped my shape. I then use the pen tool to make my L1 pockets that will be the river in the mountain range when put into Fusion. I then exported this file as a dxf.

Fusion 360

I opened Fusion 360 and opened my dxf file I extruded my whole fish shape down to negative two because the wood I was going to use is 2 inches. I then extruded the sky in the river negative 1.3 and I decided on that number based on the bit size I was going to use and how deep that bit could go. I then extruded the mountains up .25. Next I hit new setup on my stock Dimension and set my XYZ to the top left node then selected my body to set my 2D pockets. I then turned on multiple ducks and maximum roughing to 25. next, I selected my 2D contour line. I selected the number seven-bit and turned on multiple depths and set the maximum roughing of .25. Are then emailed this file to the Makerspace email.

Creating Physical Piece

Prepping and Printing On CNC

To begin prepping my peace for the CNC machine I took tape and taped my wood and taped down a portion of the CNC machine where I was going to lay my wood piece down. I've been super glued the two taped sides together. now that my piece was on the CNC machine I went to the CNC machine computer and opened my emailed file. From that file, I then adjusted the CNC machine so my x y, and z locations were all set. I then hit print!

Epoxy River and Sky

For the next steps in my project, I needed to pour the epoxy sky into the epoxy River for my fish. but before I actually poured my epoxy I had to find the amount of ounces I needed for each section. so I went back on Diffusion 360 and found the surface area for both. I started with the sky first the sky surface area was 23.971 inches squared I then multiplied that by the high I was pouring 0.25 and then got 5.99275 in cubed. from there I went to an online conversion and went for my inches cubed to ounces and I got 3.5 oz. next, I did the river I found on Fusion 360 the inches squared were worth 31.48 I then multiplied that by the height of 25 and got 7.87 in cubed I then converted that online and got 4.5 oz. I then used the West Systems resin and hardener to create my epoxy mixture. I then added the proper pigments I needed for the sky and the river. then I poured using a Syringe to make sure everything was even and I could get into the small areas of my piece.

Laser Cutting Acrylic Pieces

I then found an image online of a tree I really liked I upload that onto Adobe Illustrator and use the pen tool to sketch it. I then copied and paste multiple and scaled them down so they could fit inside my fish. I made multiple sizes and variations of the same shape. I also made a yellow acrylic sun because part of the epoxy got messed up and I wanted something to cover it. once I designed those I laser cut them using 1/8 acrylic for both.

Mountain Details

At first, I wanted to use the laser cutter to make Engravings on my mountains but my piece was too big for that so I had to think of an alternate idea. I decided to laser cut a stencil and just paint the Engravings I wanted. but first I had to go back onto Adobe Illustrator and design all the little Engravings that I wanted and made sure that they fit in the right spots. from there I laser cut my stencil. and put it in my fish sign pressing it down to make sure it was super flat. for the paint, I used spray paint and made a mixture until I liked it and then painted it over the stencil I then let it dry and then peeled my stencil off.

Glueing and Finish

I then super glued all my acrylic pieces into my fish. I also used a spray to make sure that they were really Stuck onto my peace and wouldn't come off in the epoxy. After I glued all my acrylic pieces I finished my wood with a finisher. I used gloves and a paper towel and just glossed over all the parts that my clear epoxy wouldn't touch

Final Epoxy Pore

I mixed my final clear epoxy mixture and poured around 13 Oz into my fish. I used to blow the torch to get rid of all the air bubbles and make sure the clear was perfect. I then let it dry over the next few days and there was my final fish sign!

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