Wood, Lasers, Ribbons, and Shoe Polish

We are not going to silkscreen the Head of the Fish ribbons, we are going to engrave them in the laser cutter. Mr. Gallagher and I stayed after school until 4:30 working with Inkscape trying to line up the ribbons. We cut one of the sample plaques and although it was a little bit off, it still came out great. Once we make our final 'tweaks', complete our templates, and cut out our plaques, we will really get our money's worth out of the laser cutter. It could take up to ten minutes to complete one plaque. Multiply that by 150 and it will take 1500 minutes just in cutting time. (That's not factoring in everyone else that needs to use the laser cutter or the time in between each plaque.) Not every plaque is going to be the same, so changing our print files and keeping track of every plaque will really use up time as well. After we cut our the ribbons and label on the face of the plaque we have to fill in the crevasses with shoe polish, or paint. Maximum efficiency is our goal, while still providing flawless quality.

Posted by Will Fortin