For the final project, we had to create a project using something that would normally be thrown out after one use. What my partner and I did for this project was we took a jar and made it into a planter based on a football player because both of us play football. We had to use at least 3 innovation center machines for this project so we figured we could use the vinyl cutter and lazer to put designs on the jar and 3D print something to put on with it. We ended up making cleats with the 3D printer, engraved the jersey onto the jar with the lazer, and vinyled the names and numbers on.
While looking for ideas for the project, we found those "Mr. Recycled Head Men" that we decided to base our own project on. We decided the shoes would be a good idea to make on our own project. Instead of the felt on those, we thought to make ours using the vinyl cutter and the lazer.
The first thing I had to do was make the shoes in Inventor. After I had the shoes made, I put them through makerbot so I could 3D print them.
After I had the cleats done, I had to get to making the names and numbers on the vinyl cutter. All I had to do for that was make an artboard in Illustrator and type our names and numbers onto it.
While I was on that, my partner was making the jersey in Illustrator to lazer it and getting the jar itself. All we did for the jersey was measure the jar using dial calipers to get the size of the artboards, get clipart of a jersey, and make it fit the artboard. Then we put it through the lazer with the rotational jig and had everything we needed to make our full project.
After all our parts were made, all we had to do was attach the shoes and vinyl. We used super glue to attach the shoes to the bottom of the jar and the vinyl is made to stick to the glass. Once we had it all attached, all we needed to do was add the dirt and plants.
What I learned from this project is how to use the machines together. The machines are interesting on their own, but once you use them together for the same project it gets much more so. You get to think about how you can use one thing to make another cooler. Or you can make one thing help another's use. There's just so much more once the machines are being used in tandem.