Process & Procedure

[Outline your approach to the project. What steps did you take to design, model, sketch, and prototype this projects? What ideas did you generate and how did you refine or reject them? How did you use cutting, etching, scoring? What challenges were encountered and how did you resolve them? Include photos of prototypes, redesigned sketches, design worksheets, and failed trails.]

My original plan was to base this clock on layers. The first layer would be the background with the stars. The second layer above would be the moon. The third layer would be the bunnies. In order to make the bunnies stand out, I planned on making them protrude out from the second layer to look for three-dimensional; however, in my final product, I decided to just split the three bunnies into six separate ones instead of gluing them together. I started designing from the base up and using various different images as references to create my bunnies. I used cutting in order to create the general shapes of each part of my clock, like the moon and the outlines of the bunnies. I used etching for the numbers on my clock as well as the text. The facial features of the bunnies were supposed to be scored although the power may have been a little too high and most of it were cut out except three sets of the insides of the bunny ears, which were scored correctly. 

I actually went through a lot of difficulties during the process of making this clock. I had three main problems. One was with the different CAD programs. Since I've never used Fusion 360 or Illustrator, it was really difficult for me to get accustomed to the various functions. I had to go through a lot of trial and error in order to get the shape I wanted for each part of my clock and it took me several tries of fixing each part of my clock in order to get the design the way I wanted it to look.

Another problem was with the laser cutting process. During the laser cutting process, I had problems with sometimes getting the laser to cut all the way through the acrylic and getting the right positioning. The latter problem actually took me over 5 tries with different parts of the clock in order for me to realize that I misread which nozzle it was that the laser was actually coming out of. I couldn't quite understand why the same power and speed cut through some parts of my clock pieces like the moon when it could not cut all the way through for my bunnies.

The last problem was getting the text onto my clock. It was not the scoring and engraving of it that was the problem, but the creation of it in Fusion 360. The text would not stick onto the bodies no matter what I did so I ended up creating the text on Illustrator and using that to etch the text on. 

Fusion 360:

Illustrator: