Week 2 - Journal

My assignment's idea for this week is to design and make a mobile holder using Fusion 360 and a laser cutter.

There are different complex designs for the holder available on the web and in real life. But, I decide to make it simple as can. So, I inspire the design from the Quran holder. Just two cross parts connected together. and, the phone can be put in the portrait position, and landscape position, which is the comfortable position for watching and reading.

Software

• CAD Software: Fusion 360 is a cloud-based 3D modeling, CAD, CAM, and PCB software platform for product design and manufacturing. I used it to convert the sketch to a 2.5 D CAD model. And Also, it has been used to export the DXF file of the holder parts for laser cutting.

• Laser cut software: Laserwork (V6) is used to perform laser cutting engraving operations for the holder parts.

Machine

• Machine: Morn MT3050D CO2 Laser Cutter used to cut and engrave the holder parts on the wood plate.

I used it for the following reasons :

1. The control system of the machine has better hardware stability and better anti-high voltage and anti-static interference properties.

2. Easy to learn.

3. The software support Coreldraw, Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc

4. The positioning accuracy can reach 40um.

5. Less wear and tear, can keep accuracy for a long time.

6. It is suitable for high-speed movement and greatly reduces the horsepower required to drive the machine table.

• Materials: 3mm Plywood. I used it because it is perfect for Arts and Crafts, makers and DIY projects, drawing, painting, wood engraving, wood burning and laser Projects

Laser Cutting

• LaserWORK has been used to perform the cut and engraving for the phone holder. The process steps are as the following

1- DXF files of parts have been imported.

2- The construction lines have been deleted.

3- the parts have been moved near the original point ( corner point) to minimize the used wasted wood.

4- Two processes have been used, scanning for the M letter and my name, and cutting for the outer profile of the two parts.

5- speed is 15 mm/s and 70 % are the speed and power of the cutting process (black color). The scanning process ( Red color) has been conducted at a speed is 300 mm/s and power is 20 %.

6- The final file has been saved as .rld to be ready for fabrication in the lab.

Laser Cutting

LaserWork machine has been used for performing laser cutting and engraving operations for the DXF file of phone holder to fabricated it using as shown in the figures and video.

- The outer cutting process is performed at a speed of 15 mm/ s and power of 70 %.

The scanning process was at a speed of 300 mm/s and power was 30%.

- After the two parts of the holder have been cut and engraved, I made assembly for the holder using the screw.

- Finally, I clean and painted the holder with silver color.

I learned from the lab specialist after the laser cut machine is finished, I should check the parts are cut right in the same position, and the wood plate should not move until check everything is ok. This is because, if I take off the wood plate and find any part that did not cut or engraved well, it is so difficult to reset the plate in the same stating position, and in this time the machine can not follow the same path of the cut or engraving

I made mistake during painting the phone holder. when I used the spray, sometimes, it is was at a short distance from the part and other times so far from the part, and this led to the shape marked by a red arrow in the photo. and the second mistake I made was spraying the part two times without waiting time between each time. In the second part, after searching and asking the lab specialist, I set the right distance during use the spray and waited the right time between each time during the painting the part, and I succeed to overcome this challenge as shown in the second part marked by yellow arrows.

By the end of Week 2, I got mots of the skills, which I will need in the lase cutting work of my final project. these skills are:

1- Creating 2D sketches, extruding and performing assemblies of 2.5D parts using Fusion 360

2- Fabricating 2.5D parts that can be assembled to build a 3D object using the laser cutting machine

The WOW of this week is Saturday Session Exercise. With my group, we created the model of the Miniature Rocking Chair using Fusion 360 and fabricated it using the Laser Cutter. I worked on the base and my partners finished the other two parts, during this exercise, we faced different challenges and we success in solving it and fines we get this amazing chair