Box Design

The laser cutting process begins with a clean sheet of 1/8in thick wood taken from the ENGI 210 table. Then, I headed to the laser cutting room and go to Makercase to get the outline for the box. I adjusted the dimensions until the fingers looked good, then assigned the kerf 0.004in. I tested the kerf by printing two of the sides first to see if they fit together well, and they did.

In Adobe Illustrator, I inserted the box svg file and gave it a line width of 0.072pt so it would cut. Then, I added text of my name, class, semester, and date. I also added two eels to differentiate my box from the others. I downloaded my college crest (Jones, aka the winningest college) and also put it on the file to raster.

Box Cutting

Before printing, I made sure the settings were correct according to the charts and the posters on the wall. Of course, I did a dry run to make sure I was cutting the right area of wood, and then I cut. The box came out well, although it took some pushing for the pieces to fit together.

I am quite happy with the box, although next time I may put painters tape to minimize the burns on the wood.

Failures

I did make a few mistakes in the process of making the box. One was that I guess I didn’t press print on the computer, so when I began printing, it started printing the person before me’s box. Next time, I will check to make sure the job changes to the right job before I print. I also accidentally wrote ENGI 120 the first time I cut the box, so I had to redo the text piece.

Cost Analysis

• $6.08 per sheet * 1 sheet = $6.08
• Labor: $15 per hour * 2 hours = $30

Total: $36.08