Lantern project 

Description: For the second Design and Engineering Projects, we decided to do the Lantern Project. Me and Izzy made a laser-cut wood lantern around the theme of Christmas using Fusion 360, Adobe Illustrator, and their tools. 

Brainstorm: At the beginning before Project 1, we were taught by Ms. Tran on basics to laser cut and later we learned how to use Adobe Illustrator to mark what to engrave and cut out. From there, me and Izzy created three sketches in Notability of ideas for what are lantern was going to be about. We ended up choosing the tree cutout with designs within it. Me and Izzy decided to split the work and planned to sketch each face of the lantern on Fusion 360 individually, then create the base with overlapping lines, and finally combine and upload the sketches onto the base in order to extrude.

Procedure: At first we were given a tutorial by Ms. Tran on all the tools to use to create the prototype. Then, we were assigned our groups, and I got paired with Izzy. For the lantern project, we had to laser cut two faces and chose to make it Christmas themed. Me and Izzy decided to each do a face, and individually trace each design to go on the faces. Me and Izzy each sketched 2 main Christmas designs along with smaller items surrounding them. We used the fit point spline, lines, and arcs to trace each . From there we put our projects into Adobe Illustrator and decided which things were to be cut and engraved. To cut, we set the line to 0.01 and to engrave we would set the line to 0.708. It took a while for us to get past this step because the tree outline for my face was overlapped with some ornaments inside the tree. This made the process harder because I had to select individual lines manually to choose wether to engrave or cut. Finally we went through multiple prototypes to achieve the desired look and glued the two faces together with connecting wood sheets. Izzy and I measured the width of the tree and made a long base to stabilize the two faces. Then we shrunk that base to multiple smaller rectangles for more stability around the sides. Finally, we hung our lantern and put lights inside. 

This was our final project! This model includes both faces attached together with lights that are installed and it can also hang. We turned this one as our final product to Ms.Tran. 

Reflection - SOUL:

S (strength in your work) - Our strength was working together and splitting the work evenly. Our designs on our faces also were detailed and took a lot of time and effort to produce. 

O (opportunities to improve our project): We definitely should've started laser cutting sooner and we spent a little too long on the designs and details. 

U (understanding): I have understood how to laser cut and the fact  that it takes a lot of effort to complete a project. I also understand the importance of teamwork because without it, you cant complete a project. 

L (limitations): We could have had a little bit more time and guidance as this project felt a little rushed and was delayed quite a bit. 

WISCR: 

S (Self-Motivated): We spent a lot of time and energy on this project. We tried to manage with the amount of time that was given to us and ended up finishing. In order to stay on task, we had to stay motivated and we also needed to have a goal that we were working towards. 

C (Clear communicators): Throughout this project we had to talk to each other whenever we were done with something and we communicated when we decided who would do what. We also had to talk about the details in each face of the model and our failures that occured.