For the laser cutting homework, I opted to use the makeabox.io website to automate the box design process. I input the dimensions 5.8”x5.8”x5.8” with a thickness of 0.2”. Then, I downloaded some icons from the nounproject and placed them on the different sides of the box. When I opened the box in Illustrator, I realized that a 6” box would be pretty large, so I decided to downsize it.Original Adobe Illustrator (AI) file from makeabox.io

Since I am in the Rice GMI program, I do not have a college logo so I opted to put a Rice Shield on my box. When I put this in Illustrator, I had some difficulty adjusting the settings with the lines of the shield. I wanted the outer line to engrave, so I set the stroke to 0.003″. However, when I tested these settings with the older laser cutter, it only engraved very lightly on the top and bottom of the shield outline. After testing it a few more times, the newer laser cutter became available and I switched to that machine since I was more familiar with how to use it.

Attempt to etch Rice Shield

I tried to cut my whole Illustrator file at one time, but the settings would not differentiate for the parts I intended to engrave and vector cut. I had to troubleshoot a bit, and eventually figured out if I removed the box with the shield from my file, it would accept the other five sides of the box and engrave/vector as intended. Then I attempted to cut the shield side by itself, and it sent to the printer. However, even though the stroke was set to 0.003 in, the laser cutter still vector cut out the shield from the box side.

At this point, I decided to pivot and use a different Rice “R” logo on the 6th side instead. Then, I cut that side out individually and assembled the box. Then I realized that my makeabox.io plan would not fit together… and I had to redo it with makercase.com. So I started over and made a box with 4x4x4 inch sides and about 5 tabs on each side. Then I copied over the images from my original AI file to the new box file from makercase.

New layout with “R” logo in makercase.com

On a few of the sides there were a few pieces that did not come out cleanly from the board, so I had to take a small knife to clean up the edges and fit them together. Then, I realized I had made another mistake… Since I was in a rush and trying to turn this project in by the original deadline, I accidentally selected the thickness of my board to be 1/8″ instead of 1/4.” This caused my tabs to be too short to fit snuggly together. So even though the dimensions fit and everything else worked, the box wouldn’t stay together.

Exacto knife to trim edges

Box with short tab lengths

Since I had extra time to complete the project, I decided to give it one more shot  – with the correct dimensions, thickness, and engrave and vector settings.   However, this time I set the kerf to 0.013″ and it made the tabs too tight. I was frustrated at this point and decided I would just go home and try to sand down the tab sides a little bit to fit them together. Ultimately, I was successful at doing this with a few nail files I had at home, even though it took me quite a while. The settings I used were:

• Engrave: Resolution 600, Speed 100%, Power 70%
• Vector – 16%, Power 100%, Frequency 10%

 

Final Laser Cut Box (thank goodness)

Cost Estimate

I used about half of a sheet of 1/8” plywood and it took me about 6.5 hours to complete this project. Overall machine time was approximately 2 hours since I had to re-do my box several times.  The remaining time was spent identifying images for my box and on Adobe Illustrator adjusting the fill and stroke of the images.  Assuming the plywood sheet was about $3.50 (Home Deport) and a combined hourly labor and machine rate of $15/hour, this project would have cost approximately $101 (ouch).

Key Takeaways

If I could do this project again, I think I would spend some more time learning about how to operate Illustrator rather than launching into picking icons / images for the box sides first. With a better understanding of how to adjust stroke and fill and the resulting settings on the laser cutter, I think I would have a better eye for potential issues that could arise from the images I was trying to etch into the box. Also, I might have just tried to design my own box rather than using an online tool… I think the unreliablity of the sites ended up adding time to my project and I would have been more thoughtful and careful (and hopefully have less mistakes) if I had just tried to design my own box instead.