Making a Clock
Laser Engraver
For my final project, I wanted to create a clock using the vinyl cutter, laser engraver, and 3-D printer. I designed my clock body in my notebook. I wanted to aim for a sleek looking clock that stood out with it's colors and it's design.
After I sketched out what I wanted the clock body to look like, I opened up illustrator and began working. I decided on a clock that was 12 inches in diameter and I also made the lion part smaller so I could fit the text and the numbers, which I would later draw on, easier.
After I got everything sorted in illustrator, I saved my progress on a flash drive and moved down to the laser engraver. I then went through the normal process of selecting the material, the thickness, and where I wanted the print to be on my material. I then loaded my material into the big laser.
After I loaded all of my material into the laser, I hit print and left it to engrave. When I came back, I was greeted with this.
3-D Print
I wanted to 3-D print something that was small and wouldn't take much time to do, so I thought that a small hanger would be a perfect thing to 3-D print. I started out with sketching my idea in my notebook.
This didn't take too long to design.
After I designed what I thought would be a good place to hang my clock, I saved the design onto my flash drive and went down to the 3-D printer to print it out.
Vinyl Cutout
For my vinyl cutout, I designed the words "Middlesbrough Football Club" in Illustrator. I made these words into an arc so they could fit over the lion design. I wanted the words to be on the smaller side so they didn't take up too much space and cover up the areas where I wanted the numbers to go.
After getting all the letters to the appropriate sizes and placing them where I wanted them, I saved my design onto my flash drive and went down to the vinyl cutter, where I began the process of cutting out the words.
(Picture taken after cutout was removed so it would be easier to see)
Assembly
Putting it all together was the hardest part of the project, especially laying the vinyl down. I had to pick each letter off of the vinyl piece with a syringe and line them up so it would create an arc.
For creating the arc, I used my hand as a sort of guidance for the letters so they would form an arc.
After laying the vinyl down, I put the 3-D printed hanger at the top of the clock where the 12 is. Now I could hang the clock and it would be upright so I could look on the wall and tell the time.
After assembling the hands and the clock part on the back, I was finished.
What I Learned
I learned a lot in IDEA. I came in possession of multiple skills that I never thought I would have used in my life. Seeing all and being able to use all of this new technology made me develop a new hobby for creating a designing things. In this final project alone, I learned how to create a fully functional clock with just mat board and just one other part. I also learned how to arc text in illustrator and how to create an efficient way to hang an object using inventor and a 3-D printer.