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The Industrial Design Prototyping Process, Part 4: Laser Cutting, Plastic Welding

The mobile solar charger starts to take shape, assembled using deft techniques

By Rain Noe - May 16, 2017

in Digital Fabrication

Here in Part 4, the prototype of the mobile solar charging platform starts to take shape. Industrial designer Eric Strebel, founder of Botzen Design, shows us the tricks of the trade:

- Using a laser cutter on the styrene forms that he vacuum-formed last time, he's able to get precise shapes in a compound-curved surface

- When cutting out parts that don't require an entire sheet of material, he uses the opportunity to cut extra test parts out of the extra material

- The versatility of styrene, which he's even able to fashion hinges out of

- The benefits of wet sanding, and the importance of sanding blocks

- How to solvent-weld plastic with great precision

Check it out:

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Miles Callan

7 years ago

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One VERY important thing to know when lasercutting styrene in particular is that it produces VERY toxic gases when cut, so make sure your laser cutter or the facility you hand it off to has proper ventilation. If you don't have a safe way to vent it out of your closed space, don't cut styrene. Also, the best thing to use when joining styrene is the MEK family of solvents, which can be neurotoxic without ventilation, so be careful.

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- Eric Strebel
  
  Miles Callan
  
  7 years ago
  
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  Totally agree, good to be safe!
  
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