Laser Cutting: Wooden Box

Elena Nikolaychuk

For this assignment, we were tasked to create a box using the laser cutter. I used the Epilog Fusion Pro for most of the process, which I found much easier to adjust than the regular Epilog Fusion.

To start,  I measured the thickness of the plywood using calipers. I then printed the kerf test (.ai) file provided to us to find how much wood is cut away or burned during manufacturing. To find the kerf, I arranged the rectangular bars of the kerf test to push against one side, leaving a gap on the other side. I then measured this gap and divided it by 10 to get the kerf. I had to do 2 iterations of the physical box so the final, corrected value for kerf was 0.0136 (0.0003 less than the original kerf that I measured). Figure 1 depicts this process but the tape is just for demonstration since I had to be creative to take the picture and was losing my nerve with all of the blocks falling out.

Then, I input my values into Maker Case and downloaded a (.svg) file to edit later.

Now it was time to add my personalized engravings. I used Inkscape to edit the kerf-adjusted box file from above.

From here, I uploaded my file to the OEDK computers and opened it in Adobe Illustrator. I made sure my stroke thickness was 0.072 and started the print for the Epilog Fusion Pro Laser Cutter. To do this, I used the settings for “Engrave” and “Vector”. I adjusted the values for speed, power, and frequency during the printing of my name tag from the ones provided in the instructions on the laser cutting room wall. These new values worked well but there were still variations in wood thickness for the sheet of plywood I had.

My first trial was really difficult to assemble and had too much debris and splintering from the laser not going all the way through the wood. This was frustrating since the box was so close to being able to press-fit together, but ended up splintering when I assembled it. I redid my kerf test as mentioned before and printed the box in a different region of the wood that seemed more uniform, using the calipers to see which area had the least variation in thickness. Finally, I laser-cut my second box.

This box fit together better than the first but was still very snug. This trial did not experience splintering like the first trial and was a little easier to press together. Overall, this final box turned out well with neat engravings and complete vector cuts. This trial also had better engraving details but I did not change my settings, so I think I lucked out with a uniform portion of the wood or I didn’t place the weights appropriately in the first trial. In the future, I would like to reprint the kerf test to find a more accurate kerf and further adjust the values for “Vector” in Epilog Pro to ensure the entire thickness of the wood is laser cut. The ash on the wood should be wiped away too to make the box look more neat.

Below is my cost analysis for creating a similar box using some outside resources. Fortunately, like previous endeavors, this assignment cost me in time rather than money. I spent about 5 hours total in between iterations, file editing, and printing the box.

Table 1. Cost Analysis for Wooden Box with Graphics

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	1×4 Board	$14.94 /sheet	Home Depot	1 board	$14.94
Labor	Woodworking Operator	$75/hour	Reddit	2 hrs	$150
	Prototyping Engineer (Illustrator)	$25/hour	Talo	2 hrs	$50
Overhead	Facility Cost (Machine Time)	Included with operator	OEDK	–	–
	Quality Control	–	self	–	–
Design	Engineering and Development	$25/hour	Talo	1 hour	$25
	Iterations	–	self	2	–
Misc.	Waste and Scrap	–	–	N/A	–

I estimate that this project would take about $240 to make. This cost comes primarily from the time rates and is on the lower end. I excluded tool rental since laser cutters are not a common tool for the general public. This project requires both work in graphic design and technical usage of the laser cutter. I took on both roles in my production process, but I think that it could be split up into different rates or categories. I also used most of my plywood (~80%) so I excluded the waste and scraps from calculations. I think requesting a quote would have been a more accurate analysis strategy and something I will try to do for the next project.

Thank you!