This week in class we were assigned to make a box out of plywood cut on the laser cutter. It had to be at least 4in in each direction, and the sides should be fitted together with box joints and no glue. Unfortunately the laser cutter was having issues cutting the wood and it took many attempts to figure out the proper kurf setting that cut all the way through but didn’t burn the wood.

(the result of all my trials)

I ended up finding that 55 speed 100 power and 10 frequency was the most affective to fully cut and reduce the resultant kurf. At these settings I measured a kurf of 0.08in. Using makeabox.io I inputed my dimensions and kurf and generated a pdf of my box design. I opened it in Adobe Illustrator and added my name and college crest to opposite sides of the box. I then printed the file to the printer and successfully cut the part!

(some images of my assembled box)

Luckily the kurf was adjusted properly so the box snapped together very well, and I didn’t have to use any sort of glue. Lastly I applied a clear coat to perserve the character that the laser cutter left on the wood.

Cost-

Wood-$20

Laser cutter time-$50

My time- 2hours @$15=$30

Total-$100