The goal for this project was to create a laser cut box without adhesives. After reading through the instreuctions, I decided to choose the beginner level of the project.

The first step for this project was to design the box with the help of the makercase website. I followed the instructions, setting the dimensions to 4″ on each side and then used digital calipers to measure the thickness of the wood and entered it. I forgot to make note of the thickness but it was input and somewhere between 1/4″ and 1/8″. I then modified the tab size so that I could achieve a maximum of 3 tabs per edge for a strong joint that would be easy to assemble.

Here, I took a pause and then did the kerf test. I imported the kerfbox file into the epilog pro and cut out the box, making all the settings were good by focusing and jogging the laser with the fan on. I struggled here and had to slow down the laser speed from an intial value of 20 all the way to 15. This was because the laser was not cutting all the way through and the pieces were not falling out. I then heard some of the lab assistants talking about issues with the laser cutting at a and agle not perpendicular to the plane of the wood, so at this point I switched to the other laser and recut the kerf box.  I then pushed the wood pieces together and measured the gap with a caliper to be 0.13. Division by ten yieded a kerf value of 0.013, which was then inputted into the makercase software. The kerf box is as shown below.

 

 

After exporting the file, I brought it into adobe illustrator and made some edits. I ungrouped the boxes and added some personal files and images in to be engraved on the box. This included my Brown college crest as well as a text box with my personal details. I then went to the internet and found some images of Snoopy and pasted them into illustrator. I then had to do some image manipulation- doing an image trace, expanding the image, and then deleting the background. This allowed me to get a smooth image of Snoopy without the background so it could be easily engraved. The file looked like this:

 

Lastly, I just needed to cut the file out. I laid down the wood with the metal weights, jogged and focused the laser, and cut out the file. This was pretty straightforward and I encountered no issues with the laser.

The result was as follows:

At this point, I thought the pieces were very hard to put together and that the kerf value might be off. I was about to recut it when I decided to try putting it together by hitting the pieces in with a mallet. To my suprise, it worked, so I completed the assembly by knocking in the pieces with the mallet.

 

Since it was such a tight fit, the box ended up being extremely sturdy: I did some light post processing, sanding the box so that some of the burn marks would be removed. The box was complete!

 

Cleaned Workspace:

 

Cost Analysis:

Sheet of wood: $5 at the OEDK

Adobe Illustrator: $23/month * 1 month

Laser cost: $30/hr * 1 hour

Labor Cost: $20/hr * 2 hours

Sandpaper: $1

TOTAL COST: $99