Integrated Circuit Themed Pieces
Personal Project, 2013-2014
These were 2 gift pieces in the theme of an integrated circuit.
Clock Design Process
The parts were designed in Adobe Illustrator to be engraved and cut using a lasercutter. Sample below shows the clock body design as a vector image. The clock axle will be drilled out in the center. The gold lines are raster engraved into an acrylic piece.
Lasercutting in progress of clock face, 1/16’’ acrylic. Numbers are raster engraved, clock shape to be vector cut. After lasercutting complete, face spraypainted silver,sanded to leave silver numbers and frosted circular face:
Laser raster engraved 3/4” acrylic block for clock body (in progress). Entire surface will be spraypainted gold, sanded to leave gold “veins” and frosted face. Block cut on vertical bandsaw and sanded to exact dimensions:
Final product! Utilizing a purchased analog clock kit:
Phone Case Design Process
Wooden Stencil Cutout for iPhone Case, created using lasercutter. From Illustrator file, designed as spraypaint stencil.
Finalized prototyope for iPhone case design. Gold spraypaint on 1/8” polycarbonate using lasercut stencil. Polycarbonate cut and sanded using vertical bandsaw and belt sander. Dimension match iPhone 5:
Final iPhone case. Gold spraypaint on clear contactpaper, with contact paper applied to inner face of clear polycarbonate iPhone case. Contact paper used totransfer design onto existing case, as spraypainting directly onto case leaves little margin for error.
Phone Case Takeaways
Overall I had a lot of fun on this project. I refined my Illustrator skills, and also went through the entire design process from concept to final product. Along the way, I used iterative design, rapid prototyping, and lots of improvisation. The main issue I had was with the paint not applying in a defined manner. This was mainly due to my paint choice, with spray paint if I overapplied it would run. Perhaps in the future a screen printing or something a bit more sticky could help mitigate this issue.