We’ve graduated from Illustrator 2D drawing to a 3D assembly. This week’s assignment was to make a laser cut box. I have some experience with MakeABox and such from this summer, so I chose the intermediate/advanced option to make a sectioned box that would hold the other objects I create this semester. First I laid out the dimensions of the items (supplied by Dr. Wettergreen) as rectangles in Adobe Illustrator. They fit pretty well into a 12″x8.5″ rectangle, so I used MakeABox to get a box of those dimensions and a 2.5″ depth (interior dimensions) with a kerf setting at .007″ based on hearing past experiences of snap fit boxes.
Next, I drew out the measurements I would need for my compartments, given my wood thickness of 0.2″. I spaced the compartments out evenly. I used graph paper to draw to one-half scale.
I edited my MakeABox file to remove the finger joint edges for the box top, and replace them with a straight edge. Then I joined the segments into closed shapes for convenience and cutting efficiency.
I wanted to make the sections a bit more interesting, so I sloped the dividers and made them shorter in the center. I made one smooth curve and the sides of a right triangle, copied and pasted and attached this to 1.5″ tall rectangles for all the dividers using Shape Builder.
For inner tabs holding the dividers in, I went for single large tabs. Here I calculated a kerf of .007″ as well, so the tabs are 1.514″ long or 1.014″ long and their slots are 1.5″ and 1″ respectively. I found that to measure where they would fit, it worked well to match them to the corner of the panel, then use the move function to translate an exact amount. Again, I used Shape Builder to add the tabs to the rectangular panels.
I went through the connections drawn on my paper, and filled in the rest of the slots and tabs.
I wanted to make a pattern on the box. After searching some vector files of geometric patterns, I decided to make my own simple design that I had in mind. Since my section divider tabs would make darker vertical rectangles on the exterior, I drew varying sizes of thin rectangles around the side panels. Once I had a good chunk of it, I copied/pasted and adjusted for the other areas.
In cutting a test with cardboard, I found that a) the paper cutting settings will penetrate only the top layer of cardboard, b) rastering takes a long time, and finally c) one of my tabs was an inch left of where it needed to be. I shifted that tab over and had my file to cut.
“`add picture of cardboard not fitting quite
My final cut was a doozy at 48 minutes in all. I sanded a bit on the side that was going to be rastered, because I know it’s hard to sand after the engraving is in. I also tried taping the backside to prevent it from getting smoke marks. It worked pretty well, although I do like the soft smoky edge on the front face. It took a while to get it cut because I tried to let people with shorter cuts and adjustments to make go first. We were all collectively troubleshooting on our boxes. Note to self: do not try to do a long cut on Sunday night.
Eventually, I got my pieces cut, and everything came out really nicely! The sides snap fit together and it all held as one cohesive unit. I’m glad I did the cardboard practice run with only a small sample of the rastering pattern, because it allowed me to run the cut more quickly and find an error.
Cost Analysis:
Most of the work was creating and adjusting Illustrator files. The only materials were cardboard (negligible cost) and 1/4″ birch plywood, $13.96 for a 2’x4′ sheet at Home Depot. Machine time would be $20 for my ~two hours on the laser cutter, and labor was 8 hours at $20/hour, bringing the total to $193.96.
The nice thing about laser cutter files, though, is that you end up with a shape file that is easily used again. I could now cut a final box in 1 hour for $13.96 materials + $10 machine + $20 labor = $43.96. Or I could make 2 and halve the materials cost by using the full plywood sheet, making the total $36.98 for each. Economies of scale!