Week #3 - Journal 

This week's assignment is to design a model of a pen holder that rests on a flat surface using Fusion 360. The pen holder should consist of multiple 2.5D parts, and contain at least 2 compartments to hold different stationery items. The multiple 2.5D parts should be assembled using joints and fabricated using laser cutting. 

I searched online for inspirations to start designing my pen holder. I really liked this camera shape pen holder because I love photography and I thought it would look really cool on my desk, so I decided to design it. 

Design 📐

First, I googled pen holder dimensions to get the measurements that I need for my design. Then, I used Autodesk Fusion 360 to design the pen holder's multiple parts as 2.5D to laser cut them. 

Preparation 🔨

To prepare the pen holder for fabrication, I imported my .dxf files to LaserWork V6 and made the needed adjustments for laser cutting, scanning, and speed cutting.

Fabrication 🖨️

To fabricate the pen holder, I used El Malky ML149 CO2 Laser Cutter to make my multipart design on a plywood 3mm sheet. Finally, I used M3 screws and nuts to attach the parts together to the base.

I used LaserWork V6 to prepare the pen holder to laser cut the design. I started by importing the .DXF design into LaserWork, then moved it to be right next to the origin (the green square). Also, I set the settings to cut mode with speed 10 and power 65. Scan and speed cut were set to appropriate parameters as well. After that, I checked the preview, and everything looked good. Finally, I saved the file in .rld format and put it on a flash memory. 

To fabricate/laser cut the pen holder, I downloaded the file to the machine and used the arrow keys to select my file. Then, I placed a plywood sheet in the laser cutter and adjusted the focus. Also, I made sure that the origin was in the right place and tracked the frame of the laser cut to make sure it would fit the plywood sheet. Finally, I closed the machine's cover and pressed on start.