Laser Cutting

Plan

For the laser cutting project, I made a 2x3x4in box.

Materials

  • Cardboard
  • Glue (possibly)

Tools

  • Laser cutter
  • Computer
  • Glue gun (possibly)
  • Corel Draw
  • Inkscape

Workflow

1. Open Inkscape. Click file>document properties>orientation>with=30 in & height=20 in. Select grids and change the x & y spacing to 0.25 and make lines appear every 4.

2. Make four rectangles. These are my dimensions.

3. A) Add tabs to your rectangles by clicking path>union. The tabs for cardboard should have the dimensions of 0.26x0.5in. (For other materials it will vary. The dimensions depend on the width of the material. ex. Cardboard has the width of 0.13in.)

B) Difference tabs out of the rectangles by clicking path>difference.

When unionizing or differencing the tabs, make sure they overlap the sides or bottom by 0.13in.

(If union or difference do not work, try changing the objects to paths.)

4. Copy and paste two other 2x4in pieces (^seen above) and 3x2in pieces. Make a box top with the same measurements as the box bottom (4x3.26in) and another piece to secure it into the box 3.74x3in.

5. Remove the fill color of the sides, top, and bottom pieces and outline them in red (#255). (Check to ensure your outline has a 0.001 width.)

6. Save the file as a Plain SVG.

7. Upload the file into your google drive.

Below is the progression of my attemps:

8. Open the file with Corel Draw on a computer connected to a laser cuter. Keep in mind the smaller laser cutter has a more detailed cut.

9. Find a piece of cardboard that will fit your design. (Look for scrap cardboard before taking a new piece.)

10. Place the cardboard into the laser cutter. Make sure the edges are flush.

11. Turn on both of the fans connected to the laser cutter.

12. Select the print options.

13. Click Vector and set the preferences to 20-50-500.

14. Turn off color mapping. (if you want to engrave your name onto the box top leave on)

15. Check the depth.

16. Turn on auto focus.

17. Send to the printer

18. Print!

Final product

Conclusion

The main problem I faced in the design process of my project was the differencing tool not working. To fix this problem, I created a second design and made sure to change my sides, top, and bottom pieces from objects to paths. After I overcame that difficulty, my box connect and formed the box pictured above.