Step 1. Research for ideas

• Watched videos about how height adjustable things work
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSRXYPe2ztY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4-yOB3qFKI
• http://kevinjantzer.com/diy-adjustable-standing-desk/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohyMRATOt5U
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtBSwr603sA

Step 2. Scratching my ideas out on paper

• 1st thought: Where do I start?
• 2nd thought: Maybe I should just buy an adjustable desktop
• Balancing design with functionality
• Seeing designs take shape made me realize the design errors that weren't apparent in my mind
• I'm glad I drew in pencil

Step 3. Learning the design software "Autodesk Fusion 360"

• Observations
  • Steep learning curve for someone without a CAD or Design background
  • Not self explanatory
  • Millions of mistakes ('control + z' and I are now best friends)
  • After the initial frusteration it became fun and addicting
  • After the two hours it took me to design 5 relatively simple parts I felt like I could navigate Fusion 360 relatively well on this simple level

**Step 4. Prototyping

• Attempt 1
  • What process would I use?
    • 3d printing
    • Laser Cutting- I later decided on this one after Sam and Will's recommendation
    • Waterjet
    • Shop Bot
  • What material would I use?
    • John suggested wood and trying the waterjet as a cool process
    • Will suggest 2.5mm thick Delrin with the laser cutter which I eventually settled on
  • Using Corel Draw
    • Uploaded my files
    • Chose 1:2 as the scale
    • Verified hairline and other settings
  • Using the Epilog Legend 36EXT
    • Got some additional training from Tom since I had only done Raster on Glass mugs before
    • Tom wasn't 100% on the Power and Speed settings so he started with Speed 5 and Power 70
  • Below is the result of the first attempt

• Attempt 2
  • Things to figure out before trying again
    • Why did my parts come out so small? I designed the desktop piece at half scale so I thought that the Corel Draw 1:2 setting would be correct
      • I talked to Sam and he said that many programs don't play well together so there's some work to do to figure out the settings
      • After measuring various feature sizes on the tiny part compared to what I wanted I decided to enlarge everything by 500%. It worked! I still don't know why but it worked. It shouldn't have worked because I doubled the size originally with the scale setting in Corel draw then multiplied it by 5 again later. That means the parts we 10 times the size I designed them at by the actual size doesn't line up with the measurements of my designs in Fusion 360
    • Why did so many of my parts not come out at all?
      • I looked at the sheet of Delrin and found that most of my parts were so small that the laser just melted the material instead of cutting pieces out.
      • I needed to adjust the Speed and Power settings on the laser. After asking Tom he said it's a bit of guess and check. I decided to try Speed 10 Power 40.
    • I made a second attempt and the below pictures are the result