Introduction: FBRKN Laser Cut Car

About: Fabriken is swedens first makerspace and now we're at Malmö Makerspace

Use a laser cutter to build a toy car that snaps together without glue.
In our model we've cut it in 4mm MDF and added head- and stop lights and a battery pack.

Step 1: Ready!

Gather your materials!

For this project you will need:

one 4mm MDF board that is 40 x 60 cm

A batterypack for two AA batteries

Red and Black (or any colour of your fancy) 0.5mm electrical cable

Four 5mm LED (3V)

A piece of shrinking tubing

Two 72mm pieces of 6mm round pieces of wood.

Wood glue

First download the vector file and adjust it for your material and laser cutter. We've colour coded the different lines with red for engraving, green for marking and black for cutting.

Cut it out!

Step 2: SETup - 1

Now when you have all the pieces its time to put the together. Start with one of the sides and the roof of the car. Begin by pushing the back pegs (where the trunk would be) in the side as in the first picture. Gently bend the roof and fit it in the pegs on the roof (Picture 2) and then lastly bend it down, gently, for the hood (picture 4).

IF the roof is stiff and hard do bend gently flex it back and forth a bit before you try putting the part together.

Step 3: SETup - 2

Now for the front and back pieces.

Since you do the same at both the front and back of the car we are only showing one part.

Begin with sliding the LEDs legs through the small holes and place them as in picture two. Then put that part in the front/back piece. The LED holders are marked with Fram (Front) and Bak (Back) as well as LED. The front of the car is the smaller of the two and the back is the larger. They will therefore only fit in the right slot of the side of the car. You can't do it wrong :)

Step 4: SETup - 3

Put the pieces in their assigned slot in the side of the car

Step 5: SETup - Almost There

Now for the wiring.

Cut a piece of cable a little longer than half the length of the car and strip it's ends of insulation. We started with the anode of the LEDs so we choose the red cable.

Fold the two long legs (Anodes) of the LEDs together and wrap the cable around them and solder if you have the equipment. Thread the shrinking tubing over the anodes for insulation.

Cut another piece of wire for the short legs of the LEDs (cathode) wrap it around one of the legs, solder, and then thread a piece of shrinking tubing over the exposed wires.

Fasten the end of the Cable to the second LEDs cathode, short leg, and solder.

Do this on both the back and front parts of the car.

When done take the other end of the cables and thread them trough the small holes in the little MDF piece (picture 5-6) Do the same thing with the cable from the battery pack (Picture 7-9) and twist/solder them together. There is an extra hole for the possibility of adding a on/off Switch but that is not covered in our guide.

Step 6: SETup - a Little Bit More

When all the wiring is done its time to but the rest of the car together.

Use the small pieces of MDF and build a holder for the battery pack and strap it down with a rubber band.

Then gently press down the other side of the car, making sure the pegs end up in their right slots.

Step 7: GO!

Put your wheels on the wooden dowels and then trough the car. We just pressed them on but you might want to glue them.