Laser Cut Heart Net

For this assignment, we were tasked with creating a net of a 3D object. I chose to design a net for a prism-like heart because I wanted to challenge myself with a nonconventional shape.

We were given access to a laser cutter and provided cardstock, but all you really need to make this or something like this is paper, scissors, and glue.

Sketch out the 3D model of the net you want to create so it's easier to draft a net for it, then decide on the dimensions. For mine, I made it relative to scale. For example, if you chose X (blue color) to be 30 mm, then red color would be 20 mm and green color would be 10 mm.

I sent my finished drawing to the laser cutter in the makerspace and had it cut out and scored with the fold lines. After viewing it in Adobe, I realized that I could scale up the net since it would be a bit small, so it ended up being slightly larger than the original measurements. Once it came out of the laser cutter, I still had to use an exacto-knife to cut out some parts of my print because the laser didn't cut all the way through the cardstock.

With the scoring, folding the cardstock was much easier. I then assembled the net one side at a time, applying liquid glue onto the tabs when needed.

Once all the sides and tabs are glued, you get the 3D shape that was initially designed. Overall, I was pretty satisfied with how my net turned out. I think if I were to refine the design in the future, I would want to look into other possible locking mechanisms that might give it a more seamless look. In terms of usefulness, it's more of a decoration, but it could be used to store small items if a hole were to be cut into the top.

After going through the reading, I realised that there was so much more thought that goes into planning out a net than I thought, especially with tabs. The way this reading laid out step-by-step the best way to construct a cut-out was so meticulous that it’d be nearly impossible to mess up. It also gave me a lot more options to work with since it also talked about closures and not just tabs. However, I didn’t get to make use of the tab method it mentions in the text, where the tab takes the form of half the shape of the face it attaches to, since I didn’t want them to be that big.