Keychain

Summary of Key Chain Project

For our first project, we made key chains with stickers on them. I got to learn basic skills in Adobe Illustrator as well as how to use the Epilog laser cutter and the Roland TruVis vinyl printer. I had to use creative thinking to make my design and make it a reality. During this write-up, I will go through the steps of creating my keychain, laser cutting my key chain, and finalizing my key chain with a printed sticker.

Materials

- - - computer
    - Adobe Illustrator
    - Epilog Dashboard
    - Epilog laser cutter
    - Roland TruVis vinyl printer
    - key chain ring
    - wood board

Creating

Adobe Illustrator

I started my whole project by finding an idea for my keychain. I love y dogs a lot of thought it would be a great keychain and good for my first project. Once I found an image of my dog I liked I entered it into Adobe by hitting file then place. I held down the shift key and sized my image down so it fits on my 3x3-inch art board. I then embedded my image by selecting the embed bottom on the bottom right panel. I then used the pen tool on the left panel and traced my dog using anchors and handles and created my own unique line to fit the outline of my dog. I also used the pen took to create eyes, ears, a head, and a dog collar. I also added a circle for a dog tag and the text took for my dog's name. I also made a hole for my key chain ring to go.

I then set up my layers tab which helped me keep track of all my lines. I combined all my lines into one compound path just so it was easier for me to manage. I did this by holding shift and selecting all my lines and then hitting the compound button.

To prepare for laser cutting I made sure all the lines I wanted to be cut were .001. Everything else would be engraved. I then grabbed a school laptop that has a windows operating system so I could print my keychain. I saved my file to my google drive to make sure it would be there on the school computer. I then opened the file on the school computer and hit file print. I then made sure all my settings were correct. In the print dialog box, I selected Epilog Engraver as the printer, unselect Auto Rotate, set media size to custom, and checked to see that the print preview looked like my Illustrator artboard. Then I click print.

My Laser Cutting Process

Laser Cutter Set Up

For the next part of my process, I opened up Epidog Dashboard. I then adjust the setting there. I selected the laser cutter printer I wanted for this one I used the Epilog Fusion Pro. I then gave my file a name (Madison Keychain 1) I then adjusted my engrave and vector to the write setting using a reference sheet. I then put my wood material in the laser cutter. I hit start and watched my keychain cut!

Laser Cutter Print

I then put my wood material in the laser cutter. I made sure it was lined up properly. I adjusted and focused on the laser cutter. I finally hit start and watched my keychain cut!

Sticker For Keychain

Designing My Keychain

I then added in my library. The Library is located on the right side and contains cut contour (pink) and perf cut (grey). This tells the machine what to cut all the way through and what to half cut (for the peel of a sticker). After I set my Library up I uploaded the picture of my dog again. I selected it and hit the mirror button for both my picture and the outline I already have made.

Printing My Sticker

I then saved my file as a PDF. I attached the PDF to the email for the printing computer. Then from that computer selected my file and hit print! I then attached my sticker to my keychain and added my keychain ring.

Final Product

Keychain side 1

Keychain side 2

Reflection

Overall, this project was a great first start for the class. Something that went well for me was designing the product and also assembling the product at the end. Some Challenges I faced were catching up after missing class. Also learning how to use Adobe as well as the machines. If I was going to do this project again I would pick something more challenging and also give more detail to the laser cut side as well as make the text in the dog tag bigger.

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