Heart Sign

Summary Of Project

For our third project of the year we brought all our knowledge together. Using what I learned from the keychain, and the CNC sign projects, I has to come up with an original creative project that utilizes at least 2 machines, and at least 2 different materials. I had to demonstrated these skills: Laser cutting, Adobe Illustrator, Fusion 360 design, Fusion 360 Manufacturing, 2D Pockets toolpaths, 2D Contours toolpaths, and many more skills. For this project I wanted to make something more on the art side. I researched and brainstormed ideas. I finalized on a heart sign with acrylic and epoxy in it. I work very hard over the last few weeks so created something I was truly proud of.

Materials

Mac Book
School MacBook (windows operating system)
paper
pencil
markers
fusion 360
Adobe illustrators
Plywood
spray paint (pink)
Epoxy
white pigment
rose gold acrylic
paper towel
acetone
simple green
wooden popsicle stick
blow torch
Epilog Dashboard
Epilog laser cutter
super glue
Hand Sander
Sand Paper
CNC machine
tape
vacuum
saftglasses
plastic measuring cup in oz
mixer for epoxy

Creating and Designing

Brainstorming

I started this huge project by brainstorming. I talked with classmates and we talked about different ideas and how to use different materials that is when I decided I wanted to do something on the art side. I wanted to make some sort of frame and make a fun design in it with epoxy and acrylic pieces. From there I research design and thought of things I liked. I fell open to the idea of a heart with love in it and having other little hearts around it. From there I started sketching different ways I could do this.

Adobe Illustrator

To start my next Adobe project I hit new document. I set my art board to 20-24 inches because I wanted my sign to be bigger than other things I have created. I used the pen tool to sketch my heart. I was having a really hard time getting both sides of the heart even and symmetrical, so I deleted my design and restarted. I again used the pen tool to create my heart, but this time I only created half. I then copy and pasted my half-heart. I then hit the mirror button so the second half of my heart was now flipped. I then connected the two halves and grouped them together. Next, I needed to make my basic one-lined heart two lines (inside and outside of the heart). I did this by hitting the object then the path then the off-set path. I then moved on to designing the rest of my heart sign. I copied my big heart and then pasted multiple hearts. I then called them down to different sizes and placed the mini hearts inside the big heart. Finally, I used the text feature on Adobe Illustrator and typed out the word LOVE. I scaled LOVE to fit inside my big heart. Next, I hit object, path, and offset path so that my LOVE had an inside line than an outside line. I then saved just my big heart outline as a DXF file for the next steps of my project.

Fusion 360

To start the next steps in my project I opened my DXF file onto Fusion 360 to get my big heart frame cut. I then extruded my heart with the dimensions .75 and .10 inches. I then put my rectangle around my heart and extruded the rectangle to .75 inches. I then turned Body 2 off. Next, I went to 2D and hit 2D pocket in the manufacturing tab. After my 2D pockets were set. I selected my 1/4-bit tool and ran my simulation to make sure everything looked correct. Once I made a few adjustments and my simulation was perfect, I exited my simulation. Next, I went to the setup tab on the side and then hit actions. From there I made sure my post was centroid. I filled in the file and commented as MF CRF then posted it. I then uploaded my file and sent it to the maker-space email to print on the CNC machine.

Heart Frame

Printing My Frame

I decided to use plywood for my frame. I was going to cover it with spray paint, so I didn't need the nicest-looking wood. I found a good piece of plywood and taped it. Next, I glued it down even and straight onto the CNC. Next, I went onto the maker space CNC computer and opened my emailed file. I then opened it and set my X, Y, and Z vertices. I then printed it! I watched it with a vacuum so I could vacuum all the wooden shavings during the printing process.

Prepping and Painting Frame

I then used the hand sander to sand the bottom of the heart frame. Next, I used normal sandpaper so I could get the edge of the heart frame. I then tested a bunch of different spray paint colors until I found one I liked. I chose a darker but bright pink. I then went outside and did one coat then let it dry then sprayed another.

Laser Cutting

Laser Cutting Prep and Print

To prep for my laser cutting I copied my mini hearts and my LOVE text and pasted them on a separate document in Adobe Illustrator. I made sure I had no fill in the stroke was period 001 so the machine would cut it. I then saved that document to my computer in my Google Drive. Next, I opened one of the school's MacBooks and went on to the Windows operating system from there I logged into my Google account and opens my document back onto Adobe Illustrator. I then hit print and made sure the printer was set to epilogue printer. I also made sure the media size on Adobe was set to custom. I then hit print again and it brought me to the Epilogue Fusion Pro print screen I adjusted it to Vector and made sure the speed was 15 the power was 100 and the frequency was 100. I then hit print. I then went on to the actual laser cut machine and auto-focused it. I then printed it!

Epoxy

Epoxy layer 1

I know I wanted my first epoxy layer to be 1/8 of an inch. so I needed to find the volume and surface area of my heart frame. I looked on Fusion 360 to find the surface area of my heart. the surface area was 182 in squared. the formula I used to find the volume of epoxy I needed was inches squared x depth. My final equation was 182 inches squared x .125 inches (⅛ of an inch). from the equation, I got 22.75 inches cubed. next, I converted 22.75 inches cubed into fluid ounces. I then got 12.6 fluid ounces. I use the Epoxy that is already set up one pump to one pump ratio. I did that until I hit 13 fluid o because I rounded the 12.6 fluid ounces up to 13. once I did that I added white pigment. I mixed my solution for around 2 minutes and poured it into my heart frame. Finally, I used a blowtorch every 10 minutes to get rid of air bubbles that had formed in the epoxy.

Epoxy Layer 2

I then super glued the first layer of hearts on the white Epoxy layer. Once all the hearts and the LOVE text were glued on I repeated my process. First I cleaned the rose gold mirror acrylic with acetone and a paper towel. I then used 13 fluid oz again. But this time I used a different type of epoxy. I switched to a slower-drying epoxy that would dry super clear. This epoxy was not 1 pump to 1 pump. The ratio was 3 to 1. So I did 16 fluid oz so my ratio would work out even. I did 12 oz of the resin and 4 oz of the hardener to make a total of 16 oz for my next layer. I then mixed it once again for 2 minutes and poured my next layer in. I made sure it was level so the epoxy dried flat. Every 10ish minutes I blow torched it for air bubbles. I also used a popsicle stick to get out any piece of paint that flaked off and was in the epoxy.

Final (3rd) Epoxy Layer

For my last layer, I repeated the process once more. I glued it down my heart. Cleaned the acrylic with acetone and this time I also used simple green. Then use 16 fluid oz of epoxy (12 oz of resin and 4 oz of hardener). I mixed the solution for around 2 minutes and then poured my epoxy. I used a popsicle stick to pick out any look paint or anything in the clear substance I didn't want. I then made sure it was level. I also blowtorched it every 10ish minutes for air bubbles and let it dry.

Final Result

Reflection Questions

What went well during this project? Something that went well during this project was my CNC frame and my laser cutting. I knew how to use the machines and my actual wood frame and acrylic pieces came out really good.

What Challenges did you encounter? A challenge I encountered my getting my acrylic pieces clean. When I would try to clean them they would smudge even more and more.

If you were to do this project again, what would you change? If i was going to do this again I would find a way to get my acrylic pieces perfectly clean. Also I still got air-bubbles so if I didn’t it agin I would make sure it was perfectly clean.

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