This week, I will be designing and building a 4x4x4″ box from 2D laser cut sheets.

Planning and Setup

As I want to concentrate more on the plasma cutting and midterm projects coming up soon, I will be employing the KISS method.

First, my classmate and I cut a series of sample cuts to get a rough estimate of the kerf factor of the laser we were using. We found the total collapsed gap width to be 0.1535 inches, which yields an approximate 0.007″ kerf for each cut. 

Then, I generated template files on a box-building website with the appropriate dimensions, wood thickness, and kerf accounted for.

Building the Box

The template generator spits out a svg file, which I then imported into illustrator and printed on the laser cutter.

The resulting pieces were very tight (a kerf of .6 or even .5 would have worked better) but with a mallet and a little elbow grease, I popped them together. I then placed the cube back in the laser cutter, re-focused it, and rastered my college crest and some text onto it.

 

 

The beeswax finish from my last project turned out really well, so I finished this box with it as well.

 

 

 

Review and Analysis:

I loved the ease with which the laser cutter enabled prototyping – I knocked this project out in less than two hours. However, that came with a slight reduction in quality. My joints were too tight, and hammering the box together split the wood in a few minor places (see crest photo).

The cost for this proof of concept/tool usage design is as follows.

Item	Quantity	Cost
4’x8′ sheet 1/4″ plywood	1/30th sheet	$29.98 /30 = $1
Feed-N-Wax Beeswax	~1/40th of one bottle	$9.98 / 40 = $0.25
CO2 laser	1h	$20/h × 1 = $20
Labor	2h	$15/h × 2 = $30

Materials cost: $1.25

Total Cost – $51.25

But note that this includes a highly inefficient laser cutter operator :).