I gathered the materials to start this project, including a 24”x 24” piece of plywood with 0.2” thickness. I then proceeded to use the box maker tool (Maker case) to draft a 4”x 4” x 4” cube using finger joints of size 0.7 inches. Following this, I took my piece of plywood and proceeded to cut out my kerf piece using the kerf.ai file provided on Canvas. Kerf size came out to be 0.0127 inches. I then downloaded each side of the cube individually and then placed them into an Adobe Illustrator template set to the size of the cutting area on the epilog laser fusion M2 (Cutting out four pieces first, before the last two which I cut and engraved). Upon pasting, I had to change the stroke size on each face to 0.072 pt (with no fill) to make a proper vector cut. Using the text feature, I customized the top face with my name, class, semester, and date. For my seal, I used the GSA logo.
Following this, I fitted the boxes together to make my cube/box. I noticed that the two sides that were engraved were not placed on opposite sides, however this was not my initial intention.
I cleaned up my work area, switched off the exhaust, and logged out the computer following completion of the box/cube.
Cost Type | Cost | Price | Source | Quantity | Total |
Materials | 24”x24” Plywood | $169.99/12 sheets | Amazon.com | 1/12 | $14.17 |
Blue tape | $6.19/roll (60 yards) | Homedepot.com | 1/10 | $0.62 | |
Adobe Illustrator License | $263.88/year | Adobe.com | 1/365 | $0.72 | |
Labor | Laser cutter Operator | $19.25/hour | Ziprecruiter.com | 1 | $19.25 |
Prototyping Engineer (You!) | $35/hour | Red Fox Innovations | 1/2 | $17.50 | |
Overhead | Facility Cost (Machine Time) | $1.25/hour | Sawmillcreek.org | 2 | $2.50 |
Quality Control | $13/hour | Zippia.com | 1/6 | $2.17 | |
Design | Engineering and Development | $20/hour | Red Fox Innovations | 1/6 | $3.33 |
Misc. | Waste and Scrap | $13.50/hour | Ziprecruiter.com | 1/6 | $2.25 |
Total | $62.51 |