From this:
To this:
As the co-president of Precious Plastic UH, I expanded the limits of what we could accomplish. When I returned to Houston in august of 2021 our ability to make things was limited to thin, time-consuming sheets with rough edges. We had a t-shirt press and Teflon baking sheets for pressing sheets. The sheets needed to stay in the press until they had cooled entirely or they would immediately warp. In my time doing projects for precious plastics I have:
-Fabricated aluminum molds to eliminate warping
-Laser cut our sheets and fine-tuned the settings
-Trained new members on how to safely use our equipment
-Handmade 40 ID badges for a conference
I tested using frames to make sheets of consistent size.
I took what I learned and used it to promote our organization on Instagram.
I continued to make bigger and better frames.
I started using metal instead of the Teflon sheets for a smoother finish. Additionally their thermal inertia solved the warping issues and meant the sheet could cool outside of the press.
I was asked to make some ID badges for an event at the Ion prototyping lab
I started by constructind a three part mold
I experimented with laser etching the sheets. Unfortunately the quality and readability just wasnt there even after filling in the etching with paint.
