Laser Cut Candle Holders

Inspired by those awesome Moroccan cutout lanterns, I made a set of three laser cut candle holders, perfect for small votive candles or tea lights. All the laser cutting for the project was done at TechShop SF.

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Step 1: 3D Modeling

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I modeled the candle holders in AutoCAD by drawing two boxes and subtracting the inner volume from the outer box. I exported this shape from AutoCAD as a single stl file. I've attached the dwg and stl files below, the candle holder measures 3"x3" and 4" tall.

I imported the stl file into 123D Make, a free app that lets you prepare your 3d files for laser cutting. I'm using a new preview version of 123D Make that is not available to the public yet, so I had a lot of control over the type of joints to use for my candle holders. The public version of 123D Make will be getting regular updates in the coming moths, so hopefully you will be able to use these features soon too!

In 123D Make, I set the joint type to finger joint with 11 fingers for each joint. I specified the dimensions of my material and 123D Make created 2D vector files with the correct finger size and fit them onto sheets for laser cutting.

candle holder.dwg818 KB

candle holder.stl1 KB

pippi46 says: Oct 9, 2012. 1:33 PM

Hi very nice job, compliments.
I would like to customize one with my company and put on my website, also mentioning your name and link to your web.
The candle size is 3.11 x 3.11 x h. 2.9
Would you contact me at lori.venturi@gmail.com and let me know how much does it cost
Thanks
Loredana

tgirard says: Sep 19, 2012. 7:47 AM

Just made the squares and Diamonds on my new FS hobby Laser. All I had was a sheet of 3/16" plywood from Orchard (.210") I simply scaled to 90% and the pieces were tight enough to just press fit together. I'm looking for a cool TIKI bmp for my next set. Thanks again :)

amandaghassaei (author) in reply to tgirardSep 19, 2012. 9:35 AM

nice! do you have any pics you could post?

blurry74 says: May 18, 2012. 2:45 AM

They do look good, & we all have laser cutters lying around.

craigthecoder says: May 17, 2012. 6:31 PM

What is the thickness of the material being used to cut these from? I could work backwards from the design files, but you may have built-in additional tolerances (or perhaps tighter tolerances for more of a friction fit) that would not be obvious from doing measurements of the tabs and slots to ascertain your original intent for material specs. Thank you for sharing!

amandaghassaei (author) in reply to craigthecoderMay 17, 2012. 9:27 PM

Thanks for the comment! I used 0.24" plywood.

craigthecoder in reply to amandaghassaeiMay 18, 2012. 2:40 AM

Cool. Thanks, Amanda.