This past Friday, I got to play around with using the laser cutter to create a nice, press-fit box. This was a pretty simple process that really just got me re-familiarized with using laser cutter to practice cutting and etching.

First, we used the MakerCase to create the vector file of the box’s outline to upload onto the laser cutter. We created a box with outer dimensions of 4″ x 4″ x 4″ and accounted the plywood material thickness to be 0.2″. I also chose the edge option to include fingers. The preview of the box is displayed below.

We then went ahead and chose a kerf of 0f 0.0077 and printed out a test cut to see if the kerf was appropriate for the project. We also downloaded files form thenounproject.com to test out the etching settings we set up for the laser cutter. We ran the laser to cut at a speed of 8% a frequency of 10f and power of 100%. To etch we, decreased the power settings.

Then, ran the file on the laser cutter.

We saw that the etching turned out great, but, after test fitting a couple of the sides together, we determined the kerf was far too large. So, using all the same settings, we changed the kerf to be 0.0072. Using the same laser printer settings, we printed out another box, including the etchings we had done earlier.

This box fit perfectly together!

 

Cost:

Material: Plywood 0.2″ of 4×8 =  $6

Machine Labor:  $60/month (student access) to machine shop = $60

Manual Labor: 3 hours for $13/hour =  $39

Total: $105 per box