Design Blogfolio of Daniel Louder

Basically, this technique is a bit like making cookies. A cutter cuts a pattern into the dough and the pattern is taken out. Then parts may be creased and folded and/or configured into an end product.

The die-cutting tool itself has two functions: cut a shape from a sheet of plastic or paper and crease the lines where it needs to fold. Simple enough.

A good example for this process is to think of those wooden kits where you punch out the pre-cut shapes out of a wooden sheet and then assemble them into something awesome per the instructions, like a dinosaur. 

The only drawback that I was able to find was that you have to hand-assemble the cutouts and they are constrained to a set of specified instructions, depending on the product.

This method is used for making intricate patterns on thin pieces of metal, which is similar to the technique used in developing photographs.

From what I’ve seen on a handful of informative, albeit dry, videos via YouTube, a metal sheet is be cleaned, then a resistant surface is applied to the metal. A pattern of the parts to be milled around is then applied to the resistant surface, to make a “negative” of the pattern. Then, the resistant surface is removed to show the parts of the sheet that will not be chemically removed. Finally, the sheet is covered in a chemical that removes the exposed parts of the metal, leaving behind a pattern. This is the final product.

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This technique gets its name, from “plasma”, which is gas heated to a very high temperature. The gas in question is usually nitrogen, argon or oxygen, according to the book I’ve been reading. The gas is forced through a nozzle, which in the center has an electrode which has been negatively charged. Thus, between the nozzle and the metal being cut, a circuit is formed, which creates all the sparks. You’ve probably seen this technique before, think about the people who wear dark masks and body covers to shield themselves from the radiation. 

Included in this technique is “kerf”, which is the width of the line cut through the metal. This kerf needs to be considered when designing something that will be cut with a Plasma-Arc. 

This video shows the utility of this technique, and also gives a good indication of the brightness of the arc. This technique can be done by hand, or by a machine and can cut thick sheets of metal. It also may be used on a wider range of metals than oxyacetylene cutting, which is a related process. One disadvantage, however, is that it cannot cut thin sheets of metal (less than 1/16 inch), and sheets thinner than 3/8 inch may distort. 

It provides smooth, clean edges and may not require tooling, which makes it useful for small batches. It is usually used for heavy construction. 

Both jiggering and jollying are used to mass-produce plates and bowls. These techniques are related to turning, discussed in my previous post, and they make similar symmetric shapes. Both of these techniques spin ceramic clay into a symmetric shape, like a potter, but it is done with machines. In jiggering, there is a mold that makes the internal cavity and a cutter makes the outer shape. In jollying, the cutter forms the internal cavity and the external shape is made by a mold. 

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This is another technique that I have had class in. We used a lathe to turn a piece of metal (a cylinder, if you will) and remove parts in order to make it a bolt of a certain size and thread. It was pretty cool, and the thing to remember is, with this process, products produced are symmetrical, but the complexity within that specification may vary based on the material used and the equipment used.

This technique is used commonly with wood and ceramic (think bowls and plates), but metals may be used as long as they are not hard carbon steels, which can be tough to use.

As for advantages in comparison to other techniques, it is suitable for both low- and high-production runs and is flexible in materials used. It also has low tooling costs, and with the dynamic-lathe process, non-round shapes may be cut within a single operation. Disadvantages include the obvious limit is the shape of product manufactured; with the dynamic-lathing the surface finish is limited by the design and the overall process can be slow.

I found a video that should show the process. And I promise it isn’t that scene from Ghost.

Ok, this is where it gets interesting. The first two types of techniques I wrote about, I have actually taken classes in them. But here is where my experience ends. 

Electron-Beam Machining (EBM) uses a focused beam of electrons to machine materials, hence the name. The beam of electrons hits a material, which heats it up and vaporizes it. The cool part about this technique is the precision of it. Cuts as fine as 10 microns are possible, so the EBM machine can even put a marking pattern onto a surface.

Due to the method and precision of this technique, it can take some time depending on the complexity of the finished product. This can be seen as a disadvantage, in addition to the energy cost and the price of the equipment. However, this is one of the most precise methods I’ve seen thus far and it can be used for small batches, making the per unit cost low. According to this book, is also versatile since the single tool can cut, weld and/or anneal at the same time.

This video shows some products that can be made with this technique. It seems that there is a large market for medical implants, as shown in the video, but there are also high-performance auto parts shown as well as a neat honeycomb brick made to maintain strength but to be light as well.