This assignment tasked me with creating a small finger joint box using the laser cutter. We also had to engrave in our name and a college crest. I decided that I could give this box a purpose beyond the assignment. Owlsat, a 1U cubesat being developed by Rice SEDS, is nearing completion. Until it’s fancy foam case is finished, I wanted a place to store the structure and keep it safe.

I used https://makeabox.io/ to generate all the cut files for the box. I was pretty generous with the satellite’s dimensions to make sure there was plenty of space, and I guessed around 0.22mm for the kerf. I downloaded files with an image of the Will Rice crest and an exploded view of the Owlsat, and sent it to the cutter computer.

I had a bit of trouble getting everything set up, but I eventually got it. I had to split the raster and vector cuts into two different processes because I couldn’t get it to do both of them in the same file. It was a pain getting it all to work, but I did learn a lot about Illustrator and feel much more comfortable using it for laser cutting. I started with a practice cut, and I just did the two sides of the box that have the crest and my name. I used 100% speed and 45% power for the raster and 35% speed and 100% power for the cut. The etchings turned out beautifully. I can’t believe how nice they turn out and how easy it is to make them. The cut wasn’t as good, and didn’t go all the way through. I eventually punched them out and tested the fit. I made a pretty good guess for the kerf; it’s pretty tight but still manageable. I decided to move forward with the full box.

I couldn’t fit all 6 sides in one cut, so I removed one of them to cut later. I started with the etchings, which turned out pretty well. My name ended up way lighter than the other illustrations though, so I went in again and etched just that side with a power of %60. Next I cut out the sides, this time with a speed of 30%. Still didn’t cut all the way through, so I went over it one more time at %50 speed to cut the remainder. They all turned out fine, though the sides are a little darker than I would like.

I had one side left, so I tried to get the speed just right with this one. I did %100 power and %25 speed. I also tried taping over the wood before I cut. This time it worked perfectly. The wood is pretty much unscathed. I’ll definitely do that again next time I use the laser cutter.

All the parts fit together well enough, and after a little bit of sanding on one piece they all snapped together. The satellite fits perfectly. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I feel comfortable using the laser cutter for the final project. I played it safe for the most part with this assignment since I’m not as familiar yet with the laser cutter and Adobe Illustrator, so I made a fairly run-of-the-mill box. I think this was the right decision. I got to focus more on how to operate the machine and on the laser settings, and I got a good idea of how to experiment to find the perfect combination. I didn’t have time to post process after cutting (I really need to stop procrastinating these assignments 😬), but I plan on applying a clear coat tomorrow.

The total cost of this project is pretty low. Of course the laser cutter isn’t cheap, but ignoring that the material cost is low. I used less than half of a 32″x24″ plywood sheet, so being generous that’s around $5 of material. The laser uses quite a bit a bit of power as well, so let’s say another $5 for that. I didn’t get help from any lab assistants, so I’m going to neglect labor cost.
Overall the project cost ~$10 plus 2 hours of labor (though most of that was trying to learn how to use the machine – cutting time was under 20 minutes).

I’m pretty excited about what I could do with the laser cutter. I was thinking about it all the way home. It blew my mind how you could perfectly recreate any image or text and make it beautiful. I’ve already got plenty of ideas for what I want to try next.