After designing the table top on Coreldraw for the laser cutter, myself and Jenny finally got on the laser cutter machine! We began to sample, testing slate, MDF and plywood so we had a better idea of what would be effective for the final product. We had to downscale the designs when we got there because we realised they were going to take too long to laser in the time we had booked. During the sampling process, we made some decisions about the layout of the table design, mixing materials and shape compositions we had not given consideration previously. If we were to enlarge the designs to be of larger scale, and be a more dramatic table, we would have to consider the time it would take to engrave so that we could plan our time effectively around this.
A couple of prototypes of the compositions:
Parts of the slate did not engrave fully because of a waxy substance on the surface which was there when we purchased them. This was unavoidable, and although it was not intended to laser the way it did, I think it adds to the rustic feel we were looking for on the surface. I plan to stain these to see how the woods absorb the colour - we want the surface to look more expensive than plywood and MDF in the final design. We would also need to use 6mm thick wood as the slate tiles measure 5mm thick, so that the table has a flat surface and is practical. From experimenting with scale, we have come to the conclusion to make the samples above (currently A4 size) twice as big so that they cover the whole laser area capacity. This would mean that the hole in the centre would be able to hold 4 tiles. We could enlarge a design to cover all 4 tiles, or have 4 cohesive designs together, we haven't finalised this decision yet.
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