Equipment for polygonal sculptures

It is important to note that:

  1. Without most of the equipment you can use the services in your city. Just search for this opportunity over the Internet.
  2. Creating a polygonal sculpture requires working with sheet materials, it can be different materials, such as cardboard, plastic and metal. The most capacious stages of creating a model will be: cutting, marking, assembly. A lot of equipment and tools are suitable for these tasks.
  3. This article is for guidance only and does not encourage the purchase of certain equipment. You make a purchase decision at your own risk, having previously studied additional information on a particular equipment. All types of equipment are considered from the point of view of working with polygonal sculptures.

Navigation:

    1. Printer and plotters
    2. Hand tools
    3. Cutting plotters
    4. Laser machines
    5. Milling equipment

Printer

There are different types of printers, we will mainly consider inkjet printers since they are more suitable for printing on cardboard up to 300 grams per m2.

  • A4 powder printers, the most common printers in offices, typically print only in black. If you have such a printer, you can print sweeps on it to stick them to the designer cardboard and transfer them. The disadvantage is that you cannot print directly on the design cardboard from which the model will be created.
  • A4 inkjet printer – suitable for creating small and medium-sized models. (if you do not already have a printer and you select it for purchase in order to create polygonal models, we recommend paying attention to printers that can print on sheets of A3 format and higher and skip A4 printers)
  • A3 inkjet printers are the most suitable models for entry-level working with polygonal paper craft models. The A3 format allows you to create small, medium, and some large models. At the same time, A3 printers are not much more expensive than A4 analogues. Be sure to pay attention to the ability of the printer to print on cardboard with a density of up to 300 grams. An example of such a printer (Canon PIXMA iX6840 printer with Wi-Fi A3)
  • A0 Inkjet Printers – These are professional printers that will allow you to print in the largest formats and create models of any size. It is advisable to select a printer capable of printing on dense material up to 350 grams per m2.

Hand tools

Stationery knife. It is better to have several types of knives of different thicknesses. You need a surface to work. It is best to use a piece of glass 3-5 mm thick that you put on the table. Glass is better than mats that can be bought at the store, it is strong, durable, any kind of glue can be easily cleaned from its surface, you can choose any format for the size of your table. When ordering glass from a glazier, be sure to ask to round the edges.

Scissors. Scissors with comfortable handles and thin blades are the most suitable. Small scissors for manicure are also useful.

  • A hot glue gun is an indispensable tool for solving many problems. Great for assembling large polygonal sculptures. Great for working with corrugated cardboard and binding cardboard. You can strengthen the polygonal sculpture using a hot glue gun and many other materials, including metal, this glue is glued to everything. Advice, choose from expensive tools, cheap ones often turn out to be disposable, it is advisable that your tool has a temperature setting that will help you a lot. Please note that when assembling paper sculptures, it is much more convenient to work with small models of the instrument.
  • Steel ruler. A ruler of 20, 30, 50, 100 cm may be useful for you. Choose the thickest rulers, as this will help when pressing the material.
  • Squeezing (scoring), you can use a ballpoint pen without ink, but perhaps the best tool would be Dots for manicure.
  • To assemble products from a composite you will need rivets and a rivet tool.
  • To weld metal, you will need a welding machine operating in an argon atmosphere. 

Cutting plotter

  • Cutting plotters roller and flat. Roller cutting plotters are designed primarily for films and benefit from them will not work. Plotters such as “Silhouette Cameo 4” may become an exception, they will allow you to work only with A3 formats, and with a cardboard of 300 grams per m2 they can cope only at the limit of their strength.
  • Tablet plotters are a professional tool with which you can cut thick materials. Select a plotter with a maximum field of work that you can enable up to A0 format. We recommend choosing a plotter with two working tools at the same time. A plotter with two tools can simultaneously push under a bend and immediately cut parts. 

Laser machine

The laser machine is a powerful multifunctional equipment. Laser machines come in different sizes and power. Now let’s look at a machine with CO 2 up to 100 watts. Such equipment will allow cutting materials from plastic, cardboard, plywood. Here are some examples of using a laser machine in the polygon industry.

  •  Cutting cardboard with small incisions for folding (note that it is possible to darken the edges of light materials, so that the product will require further painting)
  •  Cutting polygon mirrors with polystyrene with numbering.
  •  cut out of plastic with small slots for bending.

To work with materials, it is necessary to use a plasma cutting machine.

When choosing equipment, such as laser or plasma equipment, it should be borne in mind that this requires a special room with ventilation and smoke exhaust. Also, such machines make a lot of noise. 

Milling equipment

Milling equipment can be used to manufacture panels from composite materials. This is a separate large and promising area. Similar panels can be improved forms of standard panels for facades. This is also a great way to make a great mirror polygonal decor. Such a machine mills and cuts the part in accordance with a certain scheme, which allows you to shape the part and connect it using a special rivet tool. 
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