The Box PROCESS (laser cut edition)
For this assignment, I was tasked to create a box with finger joints that could join together without adhesives using a laser cutter. Let me tell you, for me this project was actually kind of tough. Coming into this project I thought it would be simple but I quickly came to realize it required more of my attention than I thought. I followed the steps given in the assignment document. These steps included gathering measurements and creating a box template in maker case, importing the template into Adobe Illustrator and adding the box design, laser cutting the wood pieces out on the Epilog Fusion Pro, and assembling the box.
First I measured the wood with a dial caliper to get its width and then I performed a kerf test by cutting out a small rectangular piece and measuring the gap between the inside rectangles. Doing the Kerf test also allowed me the opportunity to adjust the speed of the laser so that the wood would cut out completely.
This image is the kerf test box I created in illustrator used to test on the wood and laser from the Epilog Fusion Pro.
After measuring kerf and my wood depth I got on maker case and started to make the template for my box. I made sure to add the correct kerf value and make a 4x4x4 box with finger joints. All of the settings I used can be seen below. One thing I did forget to do the first time was adjust the material thickness. A picture of this error’s result can be found in the points of improvement section. After learning from this mistake I adjusted the material thickness and downloaded my svg file.
This picture shows the box layout I made the specs include: 4x4x4 (WxHxD) , outside dimensions, material thickness of 0.209 in. , closed box, finger joints, and finger size of 0.5225
I then downloaded the svg file onto adobe illustrator and made sure to adjust the stroke thickness and clear the color fill for the parts that I wanted. I added my name, class, semester, and date on one side and the college crest on another and then created a design on the remaining faces of the box.
Above is the design for each face of the box
After everything looked right to me I pressed control print and started setting everything up to laser cut. I adjusted the settings on the laser cuter to 16 speed, 100 power, and 10 frequency when cutting out the wood and 50 speed , 50 power when etching.
Shows the laser cuter actively etching/cutting out the wood
After I finished laser cutting I started to sand some of the pieces that didn’t come out exactly smooth, however I was nervous during this process due to my error on the first box I made and didn’t want it to be messed up again. So at this point I stopped sanding and wanted to see if all the pieces would align correctly. I didn’t finish sanding all of the pieces but since i put the pieces of the box together I wasn’t able to take it apart to finish sanding. You can see the results of this error in the points of improvement section as well. At the end of it all my box ended up looking like this.
Finished box with finger joints flushed together without adhesives
STRENGTHS
I think my biggest strength on this project is my design. I say this because coming into this assignment I was pretty familiar with adobe illustrator. Using this software I was able to create a nice pattern with clean lines and etched it into my box with the desired depth. I made two sides etch darker than the other to provide a bit of contrast and add to the overall design.
In this image you can see how uniform the lines/my pattern looks as well as the etch depth variation between sides.
POINTS OF IMPROVEMENT
For this project there was a lot of improvement that could be made. Just from looking at my box you can see that It appears to look a little burnt around the cut out area. To improve this I could have adjusted the power and speed settings. I also could’ve added masking tape to the faces of my box to prevent the design on the faces from getting darker after being etched already since I set the laser cutter to cut inside out and the etch came first. Another improvement I should’ve done was in the beginning read the instructions more carefully. At first I created my box template on the maker case with the right kerf however it had the wrong wood depth so it was able to join together however the pieces stuck out. I also should’ve sanded my pieces a bit better before putting them together. I wanted to check to see if the kerf would work but in doing so I actually joined the pieces together without sanding every piece and didn’t want to pull it apart and potentially break it.
The image on the left shows how the box joined together but didn’t align flushed together. The Image ont the right shows the charred/burnt edges and some un-sanded sections.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS PROJECT
I liked the difficulty of this project. Since this project was hard for me it allowed me to learn more about laser cutting and the correct ways to do it. Because there was a lot of things I messed up on I now know what to avoid when laser cutting again. I am glad I was able to experience laser cutting and could see myself trying to master this skill in the future. Although I wasn’t necessarily proud of my end result I was proud of my effort and will continue to give effort into laser cutting until I’m comfortable with the level that I’m at.
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY
Things I would do differently given the chance or sometime in the future would be adjusting the settings for the laser cutter and adding masking tape. Doing these things would have made all of the difference in this project. It would’ve provided a cleaner look and prevented some of the “burned” look. Also sanding more would’ve been something I spent some more time on, I was just nervous about the kerf and depth of the finger joints since the first box I made didn’t align. Because of this I didn’t finish sanding and wanted to see if my box would fit together. Once it did though it was pretty much stuck. 😅
COST ANALYSIS/BREAKDOWN
Materials: 1/4″ plywood = $29
Facility costs: $12.73 x 4.5 hrs = $57.28
Labor: $19.32 hr x 6 hrs = $115.92
Total: $202.20
