Growing Skills at mHUB

“So,” my friend Tania approached me in the laser cutting lab at mHUB the other day, “Have you been learning new skills.”

Ack.

I admitted that I’d been working with what I knew in recent weeks. You know, cutting circles (with hearts, stars, or dog bones) and positive sayings, or, as I’ve started calling my pieces, Scrappy Affirmations.

{Pauses to secure www.scrappyaffirmations.com.}

{And Facebook page. And, sure, Twitter. Okay, fine, Instagram. Why not?}

Mostly I send my little gems off to friends. It’s amazing how often I cut a design and then see a faraway friend on Facebook who seems to need that message. Maybe I’m a pre-cog?

At any rate, about those latent skills. I knew that I needed to try something different the next time I used the laser cutter. I had picked up some glass salad/dessert plates at Goodwill with the thought that I’d use the sandblaster again. I decided to fancy them up by etching them in the laser cutter instead.

This process involved two new skills:

1. To engrave the bottom of the plate (the part that would come into contact with a table and not food) I’d have to flip or mirror the text.
2. Because the plate was not entirely flat, I’d have to make sure the laser was properly focused on the z-axis (height, as opposed to length and width).
3. (Bonus: I’d need to measure more carefully to make sure the design was centered.)

So how’d it go?

Well, it felt like it took forever to figure out how to mirror the text. I Googled for info. I tried to put the tips into action. Googled some more. Failed some more. But eventually, I figured it out. Success!

As far as the z-axis thing. I didn’t break the laser cutter, but I did take it out of service temporarily because I goofed. (I should have asked for help to begin with. I hadn’t wanted to bother the shop staff, but wound up taking more of their time than I would have had I just asked for assistance.) On the bright side, I now know two ways to adjust for the z-axis.

As for centering the text, I misplaced my tape measure and used a less suitable measuring tool. I ran a test carve on wood and thought I’d done a decent job of eyeballing it. But apparently not. Which is fine, because it’s also a really boring design, so now I have a test plate ($0.99 at Goodwill).

It’s a plate though, so it still works and when it’s covered with food, you can’t see the design anyway!