For this assignment, I went with the beginner instructions for making the box. I attempted the intermediate assignment, but that turned out to be more Adobe Illustrator orientated which was consuming time I didn’t have. Pictured below is how far I got before deciding to switch assignment difficulties.
Measuring Dimensions/Kerf:
The first step of this assignment was measuring the dimensions of the plank of wood and kerf for the laser cutter. For my first attempt, the sheet of wood was measured to be .175 inches thick. Then I went on to measure the kerf by cutting out the adobe file shown below.
In the file, I made the rectangle to be 6 inches across in total. In the cut (shown below), the total width was measured to be 5.834 inches, meaning the average kerf for the Epilog Laser pro is around 0.0166 inches.
Making the Adobe File:
The next step was to use makeabox.io to get the adobe illustrator file for the box. I was aiming for a 5in x 5in x 5in box, so I subtracted twice the thickness of the wood from each dimension. This was because makeabox.io uses the inputs for the interior dimensions.
After adding my name/info and Brown College Emblem and specifying which paths to be cut and engraved it was ready to be cut. The vector and engrave setting used are shown below.
Cutting and Putting the Box Together:
Before cutting I covered the areas that were lassered with blue tape to minimize the burn marks.
Everything was going well when I discovered after removing the tape that the engravings were faded out because of the tape. I assumed this would happen, so I increased the power settings for the engravings above the recommended settings but that wasn’t enough. Furthermore, the kerf also seemed to be too large as the pieces were very difficult to put together. Thus, I resorted to using a mallet causing one of the tabs to be chipped off due to me using too much power. The broken tap and faded engravings can be seen below.
As a result, I decided to restart so I went through all the steps again. To be extra sure my kerf was correct, I made test boxes with just two sides with kerfs of 0.015, 0.0155, and 0.0166 and found 0.0155 to actually be the best size. It was not too tight or too loose.
I also decided not to use any tape, to avoid the work of measuring where the engraving would be. This turned out better as the engravings were really clear and the subtle burn marks added a nice smoky look to the box.
Unfortunately, a bit of a tab peeled off when I had to take apart the box since one of the engraved sides was upside down.
Cost:
Material:
– Plywood (Home Depot): 2 x (32 in x 24 in)*(32.67$/4608in^2)=$10.89
- Total Material Cost: $10.89
Labor:
– Meausring Thickness/Kerf: 2 hours
– Downloading/Editing Adobe File: 2
-Putting the box together: 30 minutes
Toal Labor Time: 2 hours + 2 hours + 30 minutes = 4.5 hours
- Total Labor Cost: (4.5 hours) x (11$/hr*) = $49.50
Total Overall Cost = $10.89 + $49.50 = $60.39
*Based off Lab Assistant Salary
