This isn’t a read: it is a journey.

Well, it’s not mine.  Just the one that I am able to use while at ITP.  Nonetheless – it is AMAZING!

Here are some tips that I have learned from others and from experience.  I hope you find something useful in here.

Learn Illustrator!! You can work in any version of Illustrator – but you need to save your file as a 5.0 version for the system to print.  Draw so you can see things, but prior to printing set your vector lines to (stroke color) to 255, 0, 0  (ff0000), .01 point in thickness.

You can bring your files to the work station on a USB, email them over, etc.

Follow the ITP materials cutting guidelines for speed (rate of mirror travel), power (strength of laser), and frequency (firing time per second of laser). Do not get creative with these settings.

NEVER leave the laser when running!!! It can and has jammed resulting in fire.

I use my own eyewear as a rule (No telling what was crawling around the previous wearer’s eyebrows/eyelashes!).
(not my eyelid!)

It is always good to drill/cut a test hole before cutting your material.  Had I remembered to do that today, I wouldn’t have had to run the machine for three passes.

On a separate file just make  small circle or other shape in area which you have reserved for testing.  Running your test will let you know if you have the settings correct for your material (thank you, John Duane!).

After the laser returns to its home position, allow the system to exhaust the fumes for at least two minutes before opening the hood.

Use sticky tape to pick up your cut parts from their matrix. If they haven’t cut all the way through, you can re-run your cut without moving your material any more than you necessary.

Cut a stack of material for prototyping and have it at the ready.

I use the material at Dick Blick Art Supplies which is a couple of blocks away from 721 Broadway.  Paper is located downstairs back left side (South East corner) of the store. I use the material which as of October 2013 costs $3.99 a sheet.  Every once in a while, I buy a few sheets, store them flat, and am ready to go.

It can take me over an hour to go out of my way to the store, pull the material, stand in line, pay for it, wait for someone who isn’t busy to go to the register where I paid for material, wait for them to take the material downstairs, cut it, then walk upstairs again to hand over the  paper.  Yes, I keep the cut-offs/scrap to use as well.

Blick charges .50 per cut after the first cut.  For less than twenty-five dollars I save myself aggravation, stress, and time: variables which will only increase as the holidays and project deadlines approach.

The good thing about working this way is that once you dial in how you want your material to be cut, the settings should be the same for all your pro to-typing (no three time cutting!).

Should/when you purchase acrylic for cutting, there is a difference in the material’s behavior between cast and extruded.  Cast acrylic cuts/machines  cleaner on both the CNC and the laser.

Had a wonderful afternoon at the TSOA Welcoming event.  Great to see Dan O’Sullivan representing ITP and the first time I ever saw a Dean receive thunderous applause upon introduction!  Enjoyed the singing and dancing intro to the program and found the entire experience inspirational.  Dean Campbell’s words were very moving. The event had me re-evaluating my vision of NYU into a supportive community; not just a series of buildings and professors as a place of learning.  The “WOW” factor has not diminished since these first few days.

Peter Terezakis

Tisch School of the Arts
http://www.terezakis.com

PETITION TO SUPPORT AB 742: PROTECT SACRED SITES OF THE PENCHANGA BAND OF LUISENO INDIANS:

[emailpetition id=”2″]

August 15, 2011
California State Assembly Members and Senators
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: SUPPORT for AB 742 (B. Lowenthal)

Dear Assembly Member and Senator:

I write today to ask you to support AB 742 (B. Lowenthal). AB 742 is an important measure which would provide greater protection for Native American sacred sites by adding aggregate operations to the list of mining activities prohibited near such sites; specifically the project which threatens the creation place of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. This legislation will also help to protect the Santa Margarita River, the 4,500 acre Santa Margarita Ecological Preserve of San Diego State University, and the Quality of Life for residents in the communities of Temecula, Murrieta, Fallbrook and Rainbow.

This specific article of legislation will not affect mining anywhere else in the state.

Granite Construction Company has applied to the County of Riverside for a Surface Mining Permit to produce 5 million tons aggregate (crushed rock) per year from the proposed Liberty Quarry. The proposed quarry would have a working surface area equivalent to 17 football fields and a depth twenty feet less than the Empire State Building is tall. This would be one of the largest open-pit hard rock mines in the United States and it would also be located at the Pechanga and Luiseño Place of Creation.

The referenced site, while critical to the Pechanga and the Luiseño, is important to the people of the Temecula Valley. Tourism is a critical element in the Temecula Valley, employing 6,600 people directly, providing services to 67,000 visitors per month with an estimated annual impact of 605 million dollars per year. A recent report by the Rose Institute of Claremont McKenna College estimated a negative impact of a minimal impact on tourism of 60.5 million dollars. When considering all costs, the Rose Institute estimated an annual cost to the community of over 80 million dollars. While the quarry might create 99 new jobs, it would destroy at least 660 existing jobs in the tourism industry alone.

It is because of these potential impacts as well as impacts on air quality, water quality and traffic, and the loss of the only remaining wildlife linkage between the Santa Ana mountains and inland mountain ranges, that over 30,000 valley residents have signed petitions seeking to prevent the quarry. In addition, over 520 Businesses and Non-Government Organizations have signed up opposing the quarry. These businesses are joined by 159 local physicians opposing the quarry.

The proposed “Liberty Quarry” project would mark the end of the LAST wild river of Southern California and with it the region’s LAST wildlife corridor between the coastal Santa Ana Mountains and inland Palomar Mountains. Granite Construction’s project would degrade this LAST section of living, vital land., which is filled with the living history of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. The area of living earth which Granite has targeted for destruction is part of a greater area which is replete with all the plant and animal life unique to our area. Destruction of the living earth for the sake of profit is easy, and also forever.

Stewardship of this unique gift of a vital, dynamic, living ecosystem for generations to come may be the more difficult route. It is also what the community wants, what the voters want, and what is right for future generations.

Should the quarry go forward its legacy will be the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources, degradation of the environment, and the birth of long-lasting animosity towards all who would have permitted the project. There are currently over thirty thousand signatories who have expressed their desire to NOT have this project in their community. Other sources for aggregate currently exist in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial Counties.

I respectfully ask you to preserve the Earth and Sky which are Sacred to both Native Americans and to those of us who have made this great land our home. Do not let Granite Construction destroy this land, malign your electorate, and put the business plan of one corporation above the will of thousands who live in the community. Please support AB 742 and help to ensure the preservation of this sacred site for generations to come.