After “learning” the basics of Adobe Illustrator, it was time to put my creativity and laser cutting skills to the test. The ultimate test, create a…wait for it…BOX! The catch is that the box must be laser cut and must be assembled without any screws or adhesives, pretty straightforward. In class, Dr. Wettergreen showed us a great website called makeabox.io that uses various inputs to generate a cutting profile for a box with tabbed edges. Being somewhat of a rebel, I wanted to use a similar site called makercase.com since it gives the option of making t-slot joints to add screws afterwards.

The website was proving to be quite difficult to work with after a while. Whenever I tried to add etching, the website would either freeze or would assign incorrect text sizes and positions (might have something to do with using the OEDK desktops). After a few attempts, I switched to the original website, makeabox.io. My box dimensions are 4.795″x4.795″x8.795″ (I wanted my external dimensions to be 5x5x9, the material thickness was approximately 0.205″), the program recommended using a 0.007″ kerf setting (guess what setting I used…).

After I got my box cutting outlines, I moved to the lasercutting room to add the etching and proceed with cutting. My box needed some flavor, at first I thought of adding a hurricane to the top, but this quickly evolved to covering the box in Taíno symbols and artwork (Taínos were indigenous peoples of the caribbean, they were discovered by Cristobal Colon, a spanish conquistador who discovered Puerto Rico). The symbols I added represent, the coquí, the sun, the evil god of destruction, water, and tinglares. My etching speed were 50% and 50% power. As for cutting, I set it at 100% power at 60% speed. My etching was done in Papyrus text for a tribey-feel.