I started out by making 6 acrylic boxes for my laser cut shelf. Cutting the acrylic drawer parts was simple, but I didn’t realize how many pieces I would have to peel the blue cover off of.
I didn’t realize how difficult the blue cover would be to peel off, but with the help of my coworkers, I was able to finish all the pieces.
I first tried to super glue the acrylic together, but it left cloudy white artifacts on the surface. It was now that Adulfo introduced acrylic glue to me, which could be applied with a needle and left little to no artifacts.
Taping the boxes together and applying the glue, I was able to finish all 6 boxes quickly.
Moving onto the wooden shelf, I preplanned my shelf in Illustrator to have the vertical divider and two horizontal shelves slot together like a puzzle piece.
I used 1/4″ plywood to cut all of the wood pieces. Most pieces’ dimensions were calculated correctly – however, the shelves were just slightly too short horizontally and required a second re-cut.
A mistake on my part – I trusted that the wood was 1/4″ and made my measurements according to that, when the wood was really around 0.20″. This made the connections loose and not fit together tightly. If there was a next time, I would definitely pre-measure the wood and make the joints accordingly, as well as add more finger joints to strengthen the hold.
The spaces are definitely visible. To make the shelf secure, I had to use wood glue and clamp it overnight.
Overall, however, this is my shelf! Even though there are visible spaces and I had to use glue, I’m really proud of how it turned out and how accurately I drew out the pieces – only one re-cut when I expected more.
Cost analysis:
- 1/8″ acrylic sheet, 24″x48″ – $28.62 (Home Depot)
- 1/4″ plywood (4 sheets) – $19.00/sheet = $76.00
- Wood glue – $2.99 (Target)
- Super glue – $2.16 (Grainger)
- Acrylic glue with application needle bottle – $18.20 (Amazon)
- Adobe Illustrator – $19.99/month = $19.99 (Adobe)
- Laser cutter usage (1 hour) – $12.73/hour = $12.73 (FabShop Magazine Direct)
- Labor (4 hours, assuming Texas minimum wage) – $7.25/hour = $29.00
- Total cost: $186.69
