same old pain
There’s not much to this one. I originally did my laser cutting while the laser cutter was broken, so it didn’t come out great. I was given the option to resubmit, but I’ve been busy working on the other ENGI 210 projects whenever I’m in the OEDK. I tried to recut a few times, but I ran into a bug that would make it so the tabs don’t line up (apparently an issue known to the developers). Very frustrating; I thought I just couldn’t put together a 5 year old level puzzle box. I had written out the blog post, all of the pieces snapped perfectly, but I just couldn’t find the right configuration for all 6 side to be attached at once (because there was none). I deleted my draft in defeat.
New box new me (the dragon conquers)
After finishing my last ENGI 210 project before the final (some pretty cool dragons), I decided to give my box one last shot, and I managed to find out that I was actually experiencing a common error. I found the solution to that error online (not specifying the tab length, or adding a floating decimal to your tab length). After that it was super easy to make sure the kerf I last calculated was still accurate with some test cuts (0.009″ kerf), measure the thickness of my wood with a caliper (0.18″), and import the images from my incorrect box into a new illustrator file. makeabox.io also wouldn’t give me an svg, so I used a free online file converter to convert from pdf to svg.
This new box has internal side lengths of 4 inches and only took about 30 minutes to cut.
Overall I’m pretty happy with my result. Everything is flush and fits VERY snugly.
I used 100 power, 4 speed, and 10 frequency for my vector cut. These are the recommended settings for vector cutting 3/8″ wood on the wall, and I used the recommended settings for photo engraving wood for my rastering.
Reflections
There is some slight burning around the edges of my walls which is a little perplexing. The main problem I’ve had with using the recommended settings for vector cutting is that the laser won’t cut all the way through, but this is the inverse problem! I used weights to keep my board flat and focused carefully. Even so, some sides still needed a little assistance during removal, so I’m not sure if I could’ve gone up on the speed or turned down the power. That’s ok, the functionality of the cuts was still excellent. This box is EXTREMELY sturdy (the snaps were very satisfying). My first box kind of just held itself together by leaning on itself, and fell apart very easily. This new box can be shook with no problems.
Overall, watching the laser cutter raster is a very satisfying and relaxing way to cap off a challenging semester (until finals). Highly recommend.
Total Cost
1 hr of labor x $15/hr = $15 (I’m only counting labor on the day of success)
1 sheet of laser cutting wood = $5
$15/hr of laser cutting time x 0.5 hrs = $7.50
Total Cost = $27.50
Finally, I made something reasonable priced!!!
