Beginnings

Another day, another box. This time I’ll be making a box creating a laser cutter. This machine is able to cut all kinds of material such as wood within a short time span, allowing one to easily create a customized box. And that is exactly what I did. The first step in this process was to find an online “box maker” that will create a file for you based on the requested dimensions. This method saves a lot of time as it eliminates the need to draw an entire box layout in a CAD software. I used this website, which is extra useful because it allows you to input something called “kerf”. Kerf is the amount of wood that the laser cutter removes when it is making a cut. An easy way to visualize it is by thinking of the line thickness of a drawing, now imagine the laser cutter completely cutting out that line thickness. The measurement of the line thickness will be your kerf. While at first sight this may not seem very relevant, it becomes important to know the kerf when you are trying to make a “snap fit” box that doesn’t utilize any glue. When you input the kerf to a box maker software it will adjust the edges of the box so that they fit exactly.

The kerf can be measured by cutting a number of rectangles next to each other inside of a box. After the rectangles are cut out, one can squeeze them together to one edge. You will then notice a little gap appear. This gap divided by the number of lines that were cut out will give you your kerf. I measure the kerf to be 0.006 inch.

 

 

 

Laser cutting

After having figured out the right measurements and kerf, I was ready to produce my box. I uploaded the box file to the laser cutter and used the following settings; 3 Speed, 100 Power, 10 Frequency for vector cuts; 50 Speed, 100 Power, Brighten Dithering for engraving. I used 0.2 inch plywood. The box succeeded on the first try! I decided to engrave all kinds of images on the sides to see how their quality would differ. I engraved vector art on three sides, as well as photo images on two sides.

When assembling the pieces, I had to apply a slight pressure. When they snapped together, the box was very strong and seemed to not need any kind of glue. This saves a lot of processing time, and would save a lot of money if produced on a larger scale.

Cost analysis

The amount of plywood I used can be estimated at around $3. Additionally, I spent around 2 hours making this box. At an minimum wage of $7.5 that would add $15 to the check. In total, this box cost $18 to make, a lot cheaper than my previous box but also a lot smaller, with 4 inches in each direction.