This week’s assignment was to use the laser cutting machine to produce an etched box. The six sides of the box were cut so that they all lock in with each other.

Follow the steps below to create your own!

Step 1: Sign up for the free Illustrator trial 

Before you do anything, sign up for the free 7-day trial of Adobe Illustrator or use Illustrator on the OEDK computers to design your box.

The first step is to create a 2D model of the box. Since we were following the beginner level of this assignment, we did not create the sketches in class but instead used a website (makeabox.io or en.makercase.com) that generated the box files depending on inputed measurements. When designing the box, it is important to take into account the kerf when laser cutting. The kerf is the material that is cut away (or burnt) to create the desired design. To create a snap box, we have to account for the kerf to ensure the snaps fit tightly together. Therefore, before downloading the box files, we went in to measure out the kerf.

Step 2: Attempt to measure the kerf 

On the first day, Asma and I laser-cut the following given kerf file using the settings: 7% speed, 100% power, and 5% frequency.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the little rectangles were cut out, we pushed them back together and the measurement of the resulting gap between the small rectangles and the bigger rectangle was the kerf value. However, the measurement was not accurate because when we printed out the test squares, they did not fit well together. Sad.

Step 3: Magically Figure out the Kerf

The next time we came in, we downloaded the box from makeabox.io instead of makercase.com and used a pre-determined kerf value (Thank you, Raniyah) for our 0.2” thick wood. The following were the settings inputted in makabox.io:

To avoid any laser burn, we taped the whole piece of wood with masking tape. We also ensured the settings on the laser cutter were correct, such as the origin and focus. Before cutting out the actual boxes we cut out a test square. At first, when we sent the job to the laser cutter, the time to cut was 00:00:00 which was really confusing because all the settings were correct. We then realized that the template was not the standard 40″ x 28″ causing confusion with the printer since the bed size was entered as 40×28. Once that was figured out, we were ready to test the side of the boxes to see if they fit. We cut out just the ends and they fit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Make Asma the Guinea Pig 

It was time to finally laser-cut the boxes! Asma was the guinea pig so we cut her boxes first. Since we wanted to be sure the boxes would cut, we decided to only vector cut the boxes instead of the combined setting (vector + raster). The settings used were 4% speed, 75% power, and 10% frequency. To our surprise, the boxes cut perfectly without anything going wrong (such as the machine blowing up). Well, almost perfectly. One of the boxes didn’t cut all the way, but after running the printer for just that piece, all was well. Now, the etching part. For the rice logo, we found a picture online and inserted it into Adobe Illustrator. The stroke on the image was set to 0.0035″ compared to 0.001″ for the vector cuts to mark the difference between the two cuts. Asma also added a sloth on her box (Costa Rica throwback). The settings for the etching were 50% speed, 50% power, and 10% frequency. They worked perfectly! Once the etching was completed, Asma put her box together and it snapped on perfectly!

I decided to keep the same Rice logo for my box except I added an Illinois Tech logo on one of the sides. I decided to keep the animal theme and etch a duck on another side. Since everything was tested and the settings were the same, I utilized the combined setting (vector + raster). It took about 20 minutes for the whole process but once the box was done it looked amazing. Because of the tape, there was almost no laser burn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Model your box and take pictures at every angle possible

Are these enough?

I definitely feel more comfortable using the laser cutting machine now, especially when it comes to troubleshooting. I have a better idea of what a good power + speed setting is for wood, and can easily test it out for different types of material. I learned to always incorporate the kerf, and even though it is not always accurate it may take many trials to figure it out.

Step 6: Calculate the Cost

Material Cost:
Wood: ((16" x 6 sides) + 36" (test cuts)) = 132 square inches) @ 
$8.85 for 576" square inches, 0.25" thick = $2.03
Blue Tape: 132 square inches @ $33.98 for 12992.1" = $0.345
Total = $2.38
Labor Cost:
Machine Time: 2 people x 4 hours @ $7.25/ hour = $58 
Membership for the MakerBarn in Houston which provides access to laser cutter and a space to work = $60/month for 2 people
Total = $118
Final Cost = $120.38

Price References: 
Wood: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Handprint-1-4-in-x-2-ft-x-2-ft-Sanded-Plywood-300810/202093828 
Tape: https://www.homedepot.com/p/FrogTape-Pro-Grade-1-41-in-x-60-yds-Blue-Painter-s-Tape-with-PaintBlock-6-Pack-242750/308544520
MakerBarn: https://www.themakerbarn.org/about/equipment-list/ 
Houston Minimum Wage: https://www.minimum-wage.org/texas#:~:text=Texas'%20state%20minimum%20wage%20rate,workers%2C%20and%20other%20exempt%20occupations (Houston minimum wage)