Friday, February 20, 2009

Did You Know Water Can Cut Steel?


I created this grate design for Slaysman Forge. Randy's client wanted a custom grate for duct covers. Randy had the design cut by water jet because a plasma cutter could not hold all of this detail.
Using Adobe Illustrator, I drew vector elements similar to Randy's forged scrolls. I designed a symmetrical layout that melded with the clients classic decor. I also designed a "W" - the clients surname, that was integrated into the center of the piece.
The final file was converted into the CAD friendly .dxf format. The water jet cutter took the dxf file and fed it into their CNC machine. Randy finished up by "ramping" the edges and powder coating the cut pieces. The final grate is a custom hand-crafted heirloom that will last more than a few generations.

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