Week 1 - Journal

Ideation

Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)

In week 1, I learn how to use Laser Cutter Machine and 3D Printer (Prusa i3 Machine). For laser cutter we use LaserWorks softwere, and for the 3D printer we use Ultimaker Cura.

Prusa i3 Machine for 3D Printing

Laser Cutter Machine

For 3D printer: I choose to print fidget star, I see this it is cool and I can play with it after process

I found this Idea on the opensource CAD library (Thingiverse), on this link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4887861

For laser cutter: I try to do two things. First is to make a flexible plywood, at the beginning it seems difficult, but at the end I managed to make it, then I try to make a beautiful shape with another long flexible plywood but I forget to reduce the cutting speed, Accordingly, it failed.

Second thing is making a keychain, I choose this to try all possible ways in the laser cutting machine

Tool Chain

Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?

machines:

laser cutting machine
Prusa i3 MK2S machine

software:

ultimaker cura 4.10
LaserWorks software.

Materials:

plywood for laser cutting machine (3mm)
PLA red filament material (2mm)

ultimaker cura software

LaserWork software

Design/Preparation Process

Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?

Laser Cutter

for the key metal I used scan mode in my name (Speed:300, Power:30), and cut with a high power and low speed to cut the outer line (Speed:30, Power:65), the cut with high speed and low power to draw the inner shape (Speed:300, Power:30)

Medal keys on LaserWork

all lines in flexible ply wood was to be cut (Speed:30, Power:65)

Flexible plywood design on LaserWork

3D Printer

There was no supports, the weight was 15 grams and take 1 hour.

the brim make a problem in the surface finish, but finally I managed to make a good surface finish

Fidget star design on Ultimaker Cura

Development/Implementation Process

Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?

3D printer

I face an error while put the SD card in the 3D printer, then I know than the problem was in the name of the file

Error message

printing process started

Title of Media

after waiting more than 1 hour

Laser Cutter

first I prepare my design and select what will be cut and what will be scanned and set the power and velocity.
press "Download" button on the right corner of the program to download the design to the laser cutting macine.
Take the sheet and put it in the correct position on the laser cutter's working area.
turn on the machine from the right two buttons
choose my file in the machine
track of the working area by selecting Track Frame and pressing Enter.
check the work time
press Run to start the cutting process

1- Medal keys:

the metal key design was complicated, so, when I made some areas to scan the machine didn't recognize that so I made all line to be cut, except my name was to be scanned

first time the power was high so the metal was burn, then I decrease the power and the final process was successful

first experiment - Medal keys

second experiment - Medal keys

the 3 experiment

Final Result - Medal keys

2- Flexible plywood

Flexible plywood

Community of Learning

Did you ask for feedback? What are the ideas that others have contributed or suggested? What was someone else’s idea that you built upon? How did you help your peers? How did your peers help you?

Yes I asked my team mates and the instructor for a feedback for the fidget star and the flexible plywood and they like my designs

the instructor told me to try the flexible plywood on a small sample then if it worked we can try to do it as shown in the figure

Sample

Final Shape

I also see amazing work with my peers and I also give my feedback

Overcoming Challenges

When you got stuck, what/who did you turn to? At what point did you have to pause to research or learn more before moving on? What are some mistakes, pitfalls, or challenges that others can avoid if they were doing this assignment?

For the fidget star I didn't know if I need to put support or no, so I asked my instructor and she helped me and told me that if was around 45 degree then no need to put supports.

for the flexible plywood, it was nice and new Idea for me, at the beginning I didn't know how I can do it or what problem I will face. Instructor Sherif Rashwan helped me with that, and he show me a sample in the lab that shows the distances and its effect.

the distance in my design was about 1.7 mm.

Final Project

How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?

I can use laser cutter in my project to make the base that connect the component

know I can prepare a design for 3D printing or laser cutting which will help me a lot in my project

WOW!

What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?

the coolest thing was sharing idea and word with nice people, and using the 3D printer and laser cutter for the first time, it was amazing.

also trying to do a flexible plywood was a challenge for me at the first but it was nice that I managed to design it

Weekly Digest [OPTIONAL]

Tell us about any other cool things that you've made this week: in the Hands-on activity, tutorial examples, exercises, or any other cool mini-project that you tried out aside from the assignment.