Water Bottle
Ideas
I knew I needed to have text on it. My original idea that I went with was H2O Container. So I tried different fonts. Also I really wanted to have a picture of a water bottle on it for my image. All the pictures that I put into the laptop by the laser, didn’t register and I couldn’t get them to be in the file. So I ended up going with a picture of a thumbs up.
Steps
I first created my file in Illustrator and saved it onto a flashdrive. Then I went down to the laser and put my file into the UPC. Before I pressed play I made sure the exhaust was on, the rotator bed was in so the laser can engrave on the bottle, and that the laser was positioned correctly. I pressed play, waited about 13 minutes, and took my water bottle out. Then I put a cap on it and drank some water from it.
Pictures
Thoughts
I think that the water bottle looks good. I wish I had engraved something cooler than that because I was in a rush to get it done. I wish I had put something like a game logo or sports team logo on there. My biggest frustration with this water bottle was that the laser froze for a few seconds so it looks like there is a line in the had and the letter N. I'm not really mad because technology doesn't always work.
3D Laser Cut
Ideas
Originally I wanted to do this police box like thing and I had it all set. It was the tardis from Dr. Who. I was really excited. But the cardboard kept getting caught on fire. I got frustrated and caved, and ended up doing a gorilla that was very easy for the laser to cut out. It didn't start on fire at all!
Steps
I first found the gorilla on Thingiverse and downloaded the file for it. I opened up the gorilla file in Illustrator and changed all the lines to a red outline with 0.0001 thickness, so the laser would cut and not engrave. I put the edited file in a flash drive, and laser started to cut it out. Before I pressed play I made sure the exhaust was on and that the laser was positioned correctly. I pressed play, waited a couple minutes, and took the cardboard out. I assembled my gorilla.
Thoughts
I think that I liked this the most out of the three for the laser. I liked that we had the freedom to do whatever we could find on Thingiverse. I think the cardboard aspect of it was a struggle for a lot of people, including me, due to the fires that started.
Notebook
Ideas
I knew that I needed my name on it, so I tried out different fonts that I liked and found one that worked. I thought about what I wanted for my image and couldn’t decide what I wanted. So I made my own thing. I put a bunch of different images into a thought bubble. I just went onto google and looked for a bunch of different clip art images and put it into Illustrator.
Steps
I first created my file in Illustrator and saved it onto a flashdrive. Then I went down to the laser and put my file into the UPC. Before I pressed play I made sure the exhaust was on and that the laser was positioned correctly. I pressed play, waited about 10 minutes, and took my notebook out. Then I cut a bunch printer paper into fourths. I used the hole puncher or notebook binder to cut holes in the paper and covers. I put the spiral through all the paper and covers to create a notebook.
Pictures
Thoughts
I think that this part of the laser was ok. I really like that I can put whatever I want on these things. It allows me to be creative which I think I really was during this notebook. As of right now, the notebook is being used in band class right now!
What I learned
I learned a lot during this. I learned that I need to use my time better because I was cramming two projects into one day. I learned that technology doesn't always cooperate with us and I need to chill and relax about everything. I think that this whole process and this class is teaching me a lot about patience with other people because they won't always help me when I need it, but someone usually will.