For this project, I took on the beginner mode since I had never previously used a laser cutter so my primary design work was conducted using makercase.com, a website that enabled me to specify box dimensions, material thickness, and the width of individual finger joints.

Setting the outside box edges to 4 inches and measuring the board thickness at 0.193 inches, I correlated the width of the fingers to ensure three full-size fingers on the length of each face and four on the width of each face, settling on a value of 0.554875 inches. This choice was made to maintain the strength of the box joints when all six sides were attached.
makerspace.com template

Prior to downloading the vector file for import into Adobe Illustrator, I determined the kerf of the laser cutter. Utilizing the Epilog Fusion Pro, I cut out nine rectangles, that is 10 longitudinal cuts, pushed them to one side, and measured the resulting gap. This gap was measured as 0.093 with a vernier calliper so dividing the value by 10, I obtained my kerf value as 0.0093 inches. However, after carrying out multiple tests on small pieces of test wood with Kerf values of 0.0093, 0.0097, 0.0102, 0.0050, 0.0070, 0.0062, I found the optimal fit for snug overlap of my finger joints at 0.0064 inches.

Finding the kerf size 

The SVG file generated by makercase.com was imported into Adobe Illustrator, where I added personal details like my name, course information, college crest and some cool “I am groot” graphics as shown below. Laser cutter settings were determined based on observation of already laser-cut templates and the OEDK reference manual for the Epilog Fusion Pro. An important note is that I set the stroke size to 0.072 pt as recommended for the particular laser cutter I used.

Personalizing by box template

For raster, I used the following parameters: Speed- 20%; Power-40% and for the vector cut, I used the following parameters: Speed- 4%; Power-100%; Frequency:10%

Assembling the box was quite ingtuitive as I just had to ensure the fingers fit snugly together. I began by placing the bottom piece on the table and attaching the four connecting sides before applying pressure to fit in the top part.

The assembled box

Cost Analysis: $110.74

• 1 2’x2′ sheet of plywood = $10.74 (The Home Depot)
• 5 hours of labor, costing $12/hr = $60
• 2 hours of machine time, costing $20/hr = $40 (xometry)

 My clean workspace