Though laser cutting is intricate and difficult, the results of this subtractive method provide a finish that is worthy of artistic appraisal, and in my case, nostalgia! Instead of simply rastering my college crest and name, I repurposed this assignment to let my creativity go wild with unique video game flairs. (I have not played these games in a while due to my busy life, so this is a homage to those emotions belonging to the times of yesterday.) Let’s go through my process and difficulties, and see if you can remember any of these symbols on the box!
1. Design
To create my box much more easily, accurately, and efficiently, I used the web program called MakerCase. On this website, I made my box dimensions 5″ x 5″ x “5 and spaced my finger joints to be at .625 in intervals. I also set the material thickness to be .2 inches ( Thickness of Birch Plywood was measured with a caliper.) Below is the vector representation of the box with its settings:
The presets of the box I made in Makercase ( Quality is lower as the resolution of the image is low.)
With every subtractive tool, there is a margin of error that needs to be taken into account as the tool itself removes its own diameter/width of material. This is the kerf, and to calculate this, other ENGI students and I cut out multiple square tiles of the same dimension, measured the resulting cuts, and subtracted the actual dimension from the Adobe dimensions. (For some reason we couldn’t find the kerf estimation file on canvas) For example, a 2 by 2 box yields sides 1.986. This means that the kerf took away .014 inches of material, and we can calculate the beam diameter by dividing this number by 2. This leaves our kerf at 0.007 inches, which is inputted into Maker Case. (NOTE: The kerf was found using the settings in the next Section.)
After taking into account all necessary measurements and finding the kerf value, I proceeded to find the settings I would want to raster/cut my box with.
2. Cut and Assembly
Before I laser-cut my wood, I want to make sure that my wood does not burn. To ensure that it won’t, I covered the entire section with masking take so that any rastering/cutting does not accidentally leave an ash mark. After protecting my wood, I set up the laser cutter’s focus jogged to the corner I was going to cut from, turned on exhaust, imported my file, and began setting the values to start printing!
Masking tape used on a section of scrap wood (Not letting it go to waste!)
My vector-cutting settings were set at 15% Speed, 100% Power, and 10% Frequency
My raster settings were set at 600 DPI, 10% Speed, and 10% Power to create a light, but noticeable etch.
After preparing all my vector images and installing my settings, I proceeded to cut. The box took one hour to laser cut, but below, you can see how it ended up looking:
Finished Product
The box itself looked amazing, and it held up very well after assembly. The panels are tight, meaning that the kerf number was quite accurate, and thus resulted in a sturdy box!
3. Things That Could Have Gone Better
During this project, I made one big mistake: I used the wrong side of the wood. Instead of using the clean side, I ended up using the side with knots and scars, which resulted in anomalies like the burn at the knot in the panel below.
Burns around the shoulder of the character on the bottom panel.
I am quite positive that I used appropriate laser cutter settings, but there were two knots that got burnt. I do not understand the physics or chemistry as to why the knots go up in flames, but I learned that I should use cleaner wood if I want to create better laser-cut works.
Additionally, the wood I was using was a little bit warped. Though I used weights to hold the birch down, I was unable to press it down all the way and ended with a small splinter on one panel. This wasn’t much of a problem as I just used an Exacto knife to remove it, but it goes to show that there are probably better techniques for using warped wood when laser cutting.
The little blank space on the edge of the box was the place the splinter had to be cut from.
Though these defects were a little disappointing, I learned that such obstacles can be avoided by 1) avoiding knots and 2) playing around with more settings to get the most optimal cuts. Though I realized these mistakes, I no longer had the time to cut again as this box took one hour to cut! Out of consideration for others, I did not redo my box. Despite my mistakes, I am mostly satisfied with the results as the engravings look better than I expected! This laser cutting homework was really enjoyable – except for the part where you wait to use the laser cutter…
4. Cost Analysis
Birch Plywood supplied by OEDK: $5.00
Adobe Illustrator: 19.99 month/year (nun refundable) + tax= $259.68 (Adobe Creative Cloud)
1in Wide Making Tape: $3.69 (Home Depot)
Laser Operator: $20/hr for 2 hours = $40 (ZipRecruiter)
Total: 308.36
