Week 7 Laser Cutting

We just got home from the Generator in Burlington. With no luck of laser cutting our designs at our local high school, we turned to Lucie for help. She graciously met us at the Generator in Burlington to help us cut our designs and show us the ropes. I was in awe of the sense of community at this public makerspace. Many of the makers or artists were willing to drop their projects and help us. Brain Merrill taught us how he creates his Native American Flutes and how he continually is looking for new ideas for improvement- clearly a natural design-thinker. As we walked around we saw many detailed and thought-provoking products of some of the most creative minds. Seeing this space made me immediately miss the spirit of the Burlington area. I lived in the city for 9 years before moving out west and then ultimately to Jeffersonville, VT. The Generator is a perfect exemplar of the city´s innovative, youthful and the creative vibe.  I wish I lived closer to utilize this space. I do, however, want to go on a field trip with our Tech Ambassadors to visit the Generator in hopes that they will catch this spirit.

Jeremy in his Arduino Heaven!

Lucie showing us her amazing space!

Brook described herself as an engineer enthusiast with a strong background in circuitry and drones and now laser cutting. It was an honor to be in her presence and receive her guidance.  She helped Ellen and I change our designs to make them more print friendly. We quickly learned about the importance of victor and rastor cutting. From my understanding, victor is how the outline is cut and the rastor is the etching and sketching of the design.  For elementary students, it was recommended that students think in black and white, positive and negative space, for their designs. This made complete sense to me. I was happy that Gravit.io worked for the initial design because it is web-based and easy for students to do on their chromebooks. Although, Brook had to uploaded our SVG files to Adobe Illustrator. We needed this software to help us make the designs black/white and to make sure the vector and rastor settings were acceptable for printing. Lucie showed us how to set up the printer with the wood/cardboard and how to control the settings. We saw flames and wonderful products! It was interesting to hear that you must get trained to use the cutter and that you can never leave it when it is printing for safety precautions. Fires start often but there are fool proof ways to stop it like picking up the lid. We learned about the types of materials safe for the machine and asked many questions about the other Roland vinyl cutter.

Brook fixing our designs

Brook helped us brainstorm ideas for designing 3D shapes  and puzzles with cut paper. 

Of all the tools we explored thus far I think I would use a laser cutter both in and out of the classroom the most. Knowing that an industrial laser cutter like the one at the Generator is out of our budget this year, the cricut looks like a great option to buy this year as a pilot year.  I wonder if Gravit.io would work with this tool? If there is enough traction and use perhaps we can justify buying a smaller Roland Laser Vinyl Cutter in the future. I have a feeling that this tool will be a big hit among students and teachers.

I enjoyed the website that Eric shared with us during his presentation. It got me thinking about curricular connections for K-6 students. I envision all grades creating DYI stickers and perhaps LED stickies. I like Joanne´s idea of teaching angles when designing snowflakes and building 3D shapes (and other 3D objects) from paper puzzle kits. I know our Art teacher, will use the machine for making paper stencils and prototypes for art projects. I can see the Tech Ambassadors making tee-shirts that showcase their new titles. I know the 4th grade teachers would like if their students designed stickers with a VT map since their entire year revolves around state pride. I could also see the teachers using the cutter for class projects like bookmarks, bathroom tickets and much more. The possibilities seem endless!