After following the laser cutting basic workshop, I thought about creating a simple project to practice the skills I had learned. After some searching on the internet, seeing all kinds of awesome ideas , the simple idea of a cube was born. Using AutoCAD and some thinking, I was able to draw the necessary patterns for the six sides.

A nice tool to use for cubes is the website www.makercase.com . Here I checked my design of the edge joints to make sure they would fit.

Since I didn’t used AutoCAD for some time, a lot of double lines were in my drawing. To remove those, I used the command OVERKILL. To finally check that no double lines were present, I used the simulation tool in RDWORKS (the laser cutter’s software). The dimensions of the cubes are 20×20 cm and the small cube is 10x10cm with a slot every 10mm. The wood used is interior plywood with a thickness of 3mm.

The settings for the laser cutter in RDWorks were:

– Speed: 70mm/s; Power: min. 16% max 20% for the red lines to vector engrave.

– Speed: 40mm/s; Power: min. 48% max 60% for the black and green lines.

– Layer priority: 1.red 2.green 3.black.

To cut the cubes as quick as possible, all the lines of the graphic are polylines, which allow to reduce unnecessary movements of the cutting head from one line to another. To laser cut the design took about 5 minutes resulting in 12 separate cube’s sides.

Assembling the pieces went smoothly, and they fit nicely although tape or glue is still necessary to prevent them from falling apart. In conclusion I am pleased with the final results and would like to thank PlugnMake FabLab Delft for the use of their laser cutter and knowledge.

Now on to the next project!