Digital Manufacturing - project four laser cut box

This is the forth in a series of Instructables on how to use CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) and CAM (Computer Aided Machining)
if you have been following along you should be getting quite good at using prodesktop so there is not as much detail in the photos and we will be focusing more on the design part of the program as engineering drawings and photo album have been covered in the first three instructables.
This project is a simple laser cut box which little kids love to play with, or you can cut it out of clear and use it to display an object.

If you haven't seen project one, take a look as it covers where to get the Prodesktop, how to activate the software, how to navigate the screen, what you will need and the mouse functions.

Digital Manufacturing - project one Key tag
Digital Manufacturing - project two desk name plate
Digital Manufacturing - project three 3D printed box
Digital Manufacturing - project five printed toy car

As computer tutorials don't translate to text very well, for this series of instructables most of the info is in the photos. So click on the first photo and use the arrows to go to the next photo. The boxes in the photos show the location of the icons and have have text in them when you hover the mouse on them.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Designing the front and end

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 2.02.41 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.37.50 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.38.11 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.38.32 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.38.46 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.39.14 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.40.44 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.41.17 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.41.49 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.42.04 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.42.45 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.43.30 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.44.20 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.45.49 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.46.59 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.48.16 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.49.01 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.49.58 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.50.16 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.50.32 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.51.04 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.52.12 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.53.26 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.53.50 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.54.16 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.54.28 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.55.01 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.55.57 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.56.53 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.57.28 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.57.52 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.58.13 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.58.55 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 1.59.28 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 2.00.33 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 2.00.57 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 2.01.40 PM.png

Screen Shot 2013-02-10 at 2.03.40 PM.png

As a normal box has six sides it may surprise you to know you only really need to design the front and end of the box. The top and bottom just need to be traced.
A couple of things before you start, if you make the box too big, it may not fit on the laser cuter, so think a ahead, will six sides and the lid all fit on the bed of the laser? The other problem with making a large box out of acrylic is the material is not very strong so a large box is more likely to break if it is dropped or handled roughly.
Also fitting legs to box will help protect the bottom from scratches and also help the box to sit flat on a surface.

Ok let get started, click on the photo and use the arrows to follow along.