Perfect Players - Desgin Tech Project

 

My Project is a set of four coasters and one coaster holder. 

I made the coasters by getting a rough sketch of the coaster outline and the design I wanted to do. Once that was done I took the project to Adobe Illustrator where I then re-made the coasters in a digital format. Once I was done designing and getting all the right measurements for my coasters I then had to I was ready to print using our laser cutter. Once my coasters were uploaded I turned on the laser cutter and followed the proper steps to make sure that the cutting went as smoothly and as planned. after they were done cutting I took off the layers of tape that were protecting the wood from the laser and my coasters were almost done. The next thing I did was work on my coaster holder. For my coaster holder, I designed a kind of tower look. I had a base of wood with three legs coming from the base with small lines a little bigger than my coasters cut into the legs for my coasters to slide in. Once I was done designing I uploaded my design to a carving tool called Carvey. Once it was done carving I took the piece out, grabbed a chisel and a hammer, and proceeded to basically chisel out the piece from the wood once it was done. The base chiseled out fine, but all three of my legs broke where the small lines cut into them were. I also didn't leave enough space for the legs to fit into the base so I had to try this piece one more time. I added new measurements, uploaded my project again, and tied it one more time. Once the machine was done carving I chiseled out the base and the legs again. The base came out fine again but the legs broke again. Thankfully with my new measurements, the legs fit into the base this time but they were still broken so I needed to print new ones, again. This time instead of designing the legs, I told the machine the just cut holes that were the same measurements as the legs in the holes, so that when it was time the chisel them out all I had to do was chisel out what looked like a base with holes in it, then saw it out into strips. Once that was done I wood-glued my legs into the base, let them dry, and moved on the final steps. I sanded my coaster holder and my coasters and added a thin layer of varnish to them both. After that, all that was left was to let them dry and the project was done. 

What I liked most about my project was the afterlook of my coasters in the coaster holder. It looked really good in my opinion, and it look and felt really good to have the project actually done. 

The most challenging part of the Project was cutting out the legs. It took so much time to figure out what was going wrong and then after finally figuring out what was wrong, learning to move around that. 

I would change one of the designs of the coasters. It was hard to find designs that worked well with the coasters and that came out sharp, so I had to just settle with players, instead of some of my favorite players. If I were to change anything it would be to spend more time looking for the right designs of players that I wanted.

My plan now that it's done is to take it home and use it. I like the coasters for the most part and the holder looks nice too. I want to keep them in the kitchen or on the dining table, and when the time comes use them as they should be used.

Bellow are some pictures of the project