In this instructable I will be showing you how to make a door mat out of wood using a laser cutter. I heard about the rug challenge and I thought to myself, what would make a unique "engineer' type door mat and this idea was just perfect for that. Its as simple as it can get. Piece of wood cut into a pattern to act as a door mat.

If you like this instructable, please vote for me. As always, it would encourage me to bring great new stuff.

Update Log 1.0 : I remade the door mat on 1/4 piece of plywood and it turned out great.

Step 1: Parts List

For this project I went cheap. No buying, just dumpster diving. Although I found many rough chipboard to work with, I settled with a 1/2 inch plywood sheet. Although what I learned was this was a bad choice but more on that later.

Step 2: CADing

I love to CAD everything now. I dont like corel draw much so I just used solid works to mock up my design. I started with a honey comb design but shifted to a rectangular pattern for ease of making and functionality.

Based on the dimensions of the plywood, I drew up a regular pattern and then exported a .dxf file. I did final corrections and printing in corel draw.

Attached are the files. You can use them but I encourage you to try to make up your own pattern.

Step 3: Laser Cutting Setup

I used an epilog laser cutter to make the door mat. I used corel draw to make sure all the cuts are hairline. I set the laser power setting based on the power chart. You can find the chart for the laser cutter you use online but here is the link for the chart I used.

Step 4: Laser Cutting Lessons

In all honesty, I messed up this project. Despite many attempts, I was not able to get the desired results. The problem with laser cutting 1/2 inch parts are that the laser only goes half way through. I cut the piece more that 5 times but it still did not cut through and through. At that point the wood was so charred and brittle that it just did not look good.

I was able to separate the pieces by force but it cause a lot of cracking and splitting in the plywood. It might look okay in the picture but it was not up to the mark so I just threw it away. I did not have the time or the patience to try to find a 1/4 inch plywood piece.

Hence I recommend you use 1/4 inch plywood. I might try it if I find some piece in the trash.

Step 5: Concluding Remarks

This project was a clear reminder that things dont always go as planned. I made mistakes and I learned from them. I hope you were able to learn from my mistakes so that you can make a good looking door mat. I am sure if I try one more time, i would be able to get it just right.

Thanks for viewing my instructable and once again, if you think it was helpful, do vote for me.