This is a step by step guide showing how I made my Pour Over drip coffee station. I think this method of brewing coffee can produce delicious results at places like Blue Bottle and Philz, but a $3-$5 price tag is a bit much. So I wanted to make a station for my own home to get some practice making it for cheaper.

I made it at Tech Shop! Check them out at http://techshop.ws. The main tool used was the laser cutter.

Step 1: Raw Materials

First thing you need is raw materials.

I used a sheet of 1/4 inch x 12 inch x 24 inch plywood. It cost about $8 at ACE. I'm sure you could find something cheaper, but try to get something pretty sturdy and keep in mind that the thickness will affect your design.

The other thing you need is a dripper. I picked up a cheap plastic one at ACE for $4. But you can get nicer ceramic ones on Amazon for not too much (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Dripper-White-Ceramic/dp/B000P4D5HG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335214917&sr=8-1) the dimensions of the dripper will also affect your design. The one I chose takes No. 2 size filters.

Step 2: Measure

The next step is to take some measurements of your material dimensions. Two dimensions are critical for your design: The thickness of your wood and the diameter dimensions of your dripper.

The thickness of my wood was stated by the manufacturer to be 1/4 inch. But I took a couple of quick measurements with the calipers anyway to ensure that this was somewhat consistent.

The outer diameter of the inner circle on the bottom of my dripper is 2 & 1/16 inches. The diameter of the outer edge of the dripper base is about 4 & 3/4 inches.

We will use these dimensions to design the hole for our laser to cut later.

Step 3: Design

I used Adobe Illustrator to create my layout, but you could also use Corel or Inkscape.

1. Create a base that represents your material (in my case a 12 x 24 rectangle)
2. Layout your panels (Top, sides, back) to fit on your material.
3. Create the notches in your panels so they fit together. The height of each notch should equal the the thickness of your material for clean edges.
4. Create the circle cut path slightly bigger than the inner circle on the base of your dripper for a good fit that is not too snug that it is a struggle to adjust your dripper on the station.
5. (optional) Create the text or images on the panels

Note: I accidentally created notches on 3 edges of the side panels, this is unnecessary. You only need notches along one long edge and the top edge.

Step 4: Cut

Cut your file out on a laser cutter.

If you are using illustrator lines that your want to be cuts should should have stroke = .001 pts.

Text on the faces of the panel should have raster settings adjusted appropriately for your laser and material.

Step 5: Assemble

Align the panels after they have been cut and put them together!

You may want to use wood glue to keep it from coming apart, I like the idea of being able to take this thing apart so I wont be doing that.