Quite literally everything that could go wrong with making this box went wrong.

1. I somehow made a typo when inputting my kerf into MakerCase and was wondering why my press fit joints were so horrifically unaligned. (I realized way too late into the cutting process that I had mistakenly typed “0.072” instead of “0.0072” into MakerCase. :/)
2. I figured out just how difficult it was to translate my 3d visualization of the box I wanted into a 2d format. I am a visual learner so I played most of this by ear when trying to design a more advanced box, fitting only a couple of pieces together at a time and then determining which part of the press fit box template I needed to print (does a top/bottom, left/right or front/back piece go into this next space?)
3. I tried to design a cool little box; HOWEVER, I made the mistake of switching lasers, not adjusting the settings accordingly, and the epilog pro ended up burning away too much material so the box joints wouldn’t hold together and the whole box would collapse like a wet spaghetti noodle.

Originally, I wanted to try the advanced level homework assignment to make a display case for the smaller deliverables I am to create this semester. Despite not having experience with creating templates for laser cut 3D deliverables, I had plenty of experience with laser cutting relatively intracate 2D designs and fairly decent training in Adobe Illustrator. For these reasons I thought it’d be a fun challenge to design a box from scratch.

I wanted to create a sort of 3 story display case with a living hinge element at the bottom, acting as a kind of hammock for any object I chose to set on it. The second story would be divided into three parts , the two outer sides being square and the middle portion of the box being the tallest part. The third story would be in the upper part of the middle section of the box. The easiest way to think of it is as three boxes; two square and one rectangular in between the two square boxes. They would attach to each other on the side and share a side as their bottom layer. The living hinge would attach to this bottom layer and act as a more dynamic storage space.

[picture]

Unfortunately, this task was actually a lot harder than I realized, so after a couple of failed attempts on the laser cutter I decided to cut my losses and familiarize myself with the basics of 3D template design and assembly. I shifted to the beginner level homework assignment so that I could complete the assignment in a timely and high quality manner, and use the things I’d learned from making a simpler box later on in the term when the task to make another box arose.

I calculated the kerf for the laser cutter to be about 0.0072 inches. When I was trying to create my original box design, I opted to edit the shapes from the box templates I exported from MakerCase.

Tried to make a living hinge to redesign my cool little box but the Laser I used this time was too weak and wouldn’t cut all the way through the wood unless I cranked it to the highest setting which burned the wood and made it brittle and caused the hinge to break apart

Tldr I tried to challenge myself and it in fact was a challenge that I didn’t have time to salvage. Despite my failures I learned more about the machines and the design process when making something designed to hold together without adhesive.