Shumyla Lopez: Project 2 Laser Cutter 

Process:

In the brainstorming process, we were tasked with creating a box using the laser cutter machine, however I was unsure of how to approach the design of the box that would incorporate unique elements beyond the wooden joints/teeth that would join the walls. Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to incorporate laser cut stars into the design of my box as a means of highlighting the etched embedded coin that would later be added. 

In starting the design of my box, I initially made a sketch that was too large to fit in one piece of plywood and had to troubleshoot my measurements. I ended up creating a sketch for a box that is approximately 12 inches in size, however I realized that my box would not be elevated with the original design, so I created circular legs to be included in the sketch. Furthermore, I spent 3 hours with Josh editing my foundational sketch for the box as we realized the lines were not completely straight, and random bodies would be created rather than a joined component of the main box body. We realized this was an issue when we saw more than 8+ bodies recognized by the program to which I grouped the bodied to join together. Ryan also assisted in helping me extrude the bodies to join to the main body of the box, however I realized that I had to scrap the original design entire and create a new sketch that would have straight lines since everything was crooked.

After troubleshooting that for a few hours, I finally had a design that I was happy with, I created an open box with no lid, but 8 stars cut out on the sides of the box with a main face holding a coin between two of the stars. I was very satisfied with the design, and decided to send the file to be cut in the RayJet.

Regarding the design for the embedded coin, that was a very simple process. I found an stv file on thingaverse (Doge Coin File) and created a Doge Coin to be the center piece of the box. I decided that I would cut a wooden circle that was larger radius than that of the coin (1.5 in), so that the coin would be stablized in the wall. However, I am debating on whether I should have incorporated a smaller outer ring to further ensure that the coin would not fall out of the wall. 

Result:

Sending the final file to the RayJet was a big mistake, I ended up with a beautiful box, however the joints did not fit each other perfectly as I would have wanted to. However, it truly was not bad, and I looked at the original sketch, and everything did have the right measurements fit for wood that is .125 inches thick, so I was confused. After re-editing and being unable to figure it out, even after assistance, I decided to creatively problem solve and realized it could hypothetically be more stable to glue the pieces together and sand the extruding joints down to match the thickness of the faces. And that I did!

I also engraved some stars into the bottom of my box to match the deep blue stars on the walls.

I also decided to spray-paint the stars to make them pop! I also added a wooden lip to the coin so that it would not slip out!

Reflection:

Looking back on this project at the end of the line, I realized Fusion and I have a terrible love hate relationship. I am still getting used to the shortcuts and the overly specific angles Fusion registers (I had a line that was .001in off which caused my entire sketch to not be straight, leading to the terrible aftermath of having to redesign and resketch). However, despite the challenges in understanding how to have a proper sketched and properly mirror the joints I had a good time learning how to better use the program. I also enjoyed being able to create multiple designs for my box despite the tasking being time consuming. I did notice that there may have been simpler solutions to the problems I experienced in making the laser cut box such as editing the current sketch rather than starting new entirely. Ultimately, I enjoyed this project!