My most recent progress has involved completing the Intro to Laser Cutting course and cutting my 12-inch by 12-inch slab of acrylic.  I am happy to say all was successful.  Hurray!  To follow are steps I took to create the four acrylic trapezoids to be used in my final design.

Step 1: CorelDRAW

Each trapezoid was drawn using the pen tool in CorelDRAW with the following dimensions:

• Base 1 = 0.958 in
• Base 2 = 6.5 in
• Height = 3.817 in
• Hypotenuse = 4.717
• Base Angle = 54 degrees

Step 2: Laser Cut

It is a fascinating thing to watch a Laser Cutter hard at work.  Such elegance in the way it so effortlessly slices…and with such precision.  After prepping the machine, the job took only 10 minutes.

Step 3: Inspection

Upon removing my work from the Laser Cutter, I noticed that there was some excess melting and residue from previous jobs sticking to my trapezoids.  Thus, I inspected each piece carefully and cleaned each well.  I may need to use Goo Gone to remove excess that is too stubborn for Clorox.

My next steps will be to assemble the four pieces using hinges and proper adhesive.  I will experiment with scrap acrylic to select the best attachment option.