The laser cutting project was a project that I have been looking forward to doing. The idea of press fitting intrigued me and although having previously used the laser cutter before, I opted for the beginner level in order to refine my skills.

I first had to set up the box file and I used the makercase website. I decided that I would like 4 inches on all the dimensions of my box and a minimum of 3 tabs in order to maintain high integral structure of the press fit model. I used a caliper to measure the thickness my piece of wood which came out to be around 0.19 inches.

Following the instructions, I performed the kerf test by using the provided illustrator file from the course. I first had to set up the laser cutter by turning on the exhaust and machine, and then setting up the jog and focus to my piece of material. Additionally, I had to import my file to adobe illustrator and select the speed, power, and frequency based on the settings suggested by the OEDK. I opted for 20 speed, 100 power, and 10 frequency on the epilog pro cutter.

As I pressed the small rectangles to one side of the frame, I found it difficult to use the caliper to measure the gap that was left. After performing the test multiple times, I had very mixed results. I had a range of 0.0105 in. to 0.0063 in. So that prompted further testing with the range of kerf that I had.

I primary cut out 2 faces of the box to simply test the kerf and how tightly the box would fit against each other. I noticed that 0.0105 was simply too tight to the point where the wood is chipping if I force the 2 pieces together. On the other hand, 0.0063 was too loose. I opted for 0.0069 as it felt a lot better.

I went into adobe illustrator and added a text box and my college crest to opposite faces and started printing all 6 sides of the box.

The results were nice however the rest of the box felt a little bare so I went back to add more designs which is where I ran into trouble. I noticed that a lot of the imagery where either too burnt or simply cut instead of engraved. I realized that my adobe file had incorporated both a stroke of engraving and vectorizing because the box edge and my design were grouped together. I had to fix this in the cutting setting by deselecting the vector option on my design.

I also performed a little post processing to remove some of the charred marks on the box and to provide a smoother finish to my box. I opted for a grit of 200 as I only wanted to remove a very small layer.

Picture of clean workspace:

 

Cost:

Wood: $5

Adobe Illustrator: $23 per month

Laser Cutting Machine rental for an hour: $30

Labor Cost: $25 per hour for 3 hours

200 grit Sandpaper: $ 1.5

Total cost: $107.5