Lasercut Venus Designs

 

GIF of my laser-cut Venus designs.

 

In the past 3 weeks, I reworked my Venezuelan Venus design and printed it using a laser cutter. This blogpost breaks my process down into steps and discusses the successes and challenges I faced.

PROCESS

1. Preparing the pre-existing design for the laser machine.

The first thing I did was to convert my multicoloured design into a monochrome sepia design. 

I made four versions and experimented with a peach accent colour. However, as I looked at my new designs, I felt that none of them were as interesting as my original multicoloured one. Without the colours, the "venuses" blended together and were hard to identify. So, I decided to rework my design so that it looked appealing with a monochrome palette.

I decided to start near the beginning by redesigning the single Venus, which is then "polar arrayed" into the final form.

I re-hatched the lines in the drawings to be thicker so that they would be visible from distance. I also added details to the figure's face and neck. In the initial multicoloured design, the ears overlapped a bit strangely so I got rid of them.

Since I didn't know how much detail the laser cutter would be able to replicate, I simplified the model. Also, given the 4x4" scale of the print, I decided to reduce complexities in the design. 

I encountered a few obstacles when re-hatching my design.

There were sections that would not hatch properly but I was able to troubleshoot them all eventually.

One thing I noticed was that hatches would fail in sections that had tangent sections or overlapped. 

I included screenshots of this case on the right. I am sure this point was mentioned in class but I must have missed it!

I received the error message above when I tried to hatch forms that were tangent to other forms. At least I think that's the cause for the error message.

After I resolved the issue, I connected nearly all the black outlines to create a large continuous hatch. I don't know if doing this has a particular advantage but I suspect that it simplifies information for the laser cutter.

In contrast to my original design, this new design includes 7 Venuses instead of 8. Having fewer Venuses would give the design more negative space, which I what I wanted for the laser cut product.

2. Making a larger design

Process shot of secondary design

Since I had never used a laser cutter before, I decided to create a secondary design, with larger details in case there were issues with the other design. This secondary design would feature a single Venus with added details. 

To add visual interest to the design, I included a dissolving geometric pattern on the body. I didn't know how to automate a dissolving effect so I positioned and sized the triangles by eye. I would like to figure out a more efficient method for creating this type of pattern.

Issue with hatching the negative space around the triangles

Rhino began to glitch when I tried hatching the body and triangle pattern. Though all the triangles were transformed copies of each other, the hatching tool couldn't process all of them. 

I checked the curves on all the triangles and they all appeared to be the same. So, I closed and reopened Rhino and the problem was fixed.

Final Venus design

3. Evaluating the scale with a home printer

I printed both designs to scale with my home printer. I wanted to check if the level of details and line thicknesses were appropriate for the final laser cut design.

On paper, both designs looked good so I did not make any additional adjustments.

4. Laser cutting the design.

The laser cutter worked wayyy faster than what I expected—my design was finished in 5 minutes!

I was pleasantly surprised by the precision of the laser. It cut detail more precisely than my home printer and the woodcut looked better than the paper print.

Since the cutter works fast and there was extra wood, I was able to produce my secondary design as well.

The secondary design printed even faster than my first design. I watched the entire cutting process for both designs. It was very satisfying to see the laser intensify at the end when it cuts through the wood. 

I was also pleased by the richness of the black, I wasn't expecting for the burn to look so even and dark. The final laser cut had the perfect contrast that I was hoping for.

5. Using a motor to display the design 

Rendered and ghosted views of motor adaptor

 

I wanted the mandala-like Venus design to rotate for the final display. I thought it would be visually engaging to incorporate movement in the piece.

So, I decided to attach the laser cut design to a motor. Since the motor provided by the school has a smooth drive shaft, and no way to connect it to the cutout design, I had to 3D model a connector in Rhino. I used a caliper to measure the motor and create a component that would fit it perfectly. 

I included a gif of the spinning laser cut design at the top of this blogpost.

I booked a time to meet with Jessica in the Thing Tank and I 3D printed my model. We used a solid infill for the print because the object was small and thought it would be best if it was strong. However, the print time ended up being nearly 3 hours! And once it was done, it looked crooked.

We decided to reprint the model with 75% infill and a thin skirt for stability. The 2nd version printed perfectly and I used it for this project.

Final Images!