128 Laser Cut Boxes

As part of my schools recruitment drive for new students, we have a day that grade 6 kids can come to high school for a few hours and try different subjects. I was asked to motivate kids to choose engineering, which sounds all good but, then you read the fine print...... 128 kids,... two and a half hours......  Hell no..
Kids like boxes right? I designed a small box for the laser cutter that grade sixes can assemble in a few minutes, It has a hinged lid that make a noise so the kids enjoyed making their box and enjoyed annoying there teachers even more with the clicking of the lid opening and shutting.
It took most kids around 20-30 minutes to assemble.

Step 1: Preparation

The DXF file has a nest of 8 boxes so that fit on an A3 sheet which is about the size of our laser cutter, so it just a case of cutting out the amount of boxes you require. The design is for 3mm material and I used floro acrylic.  The amount of time to do this will depended on your machine, but the rabbit40 laser took around 18 minutes.
In addition you will need some acrylic glue, cotton buds, and 5 trays to store all the parts.
There is also a DXF for one box which is nested to speed up the cut time, and reduce waste. You will notice that the front and the back of the box look similar but are different heights, the smaller part goes to the back of the box, which is important or the box will not open.

Step 2: Assembly

Assembly is simple the most important thing to remember is to  make sure the short side goes on the back. Cotton buds are good for applying the glue

• Start with hinged side (the one with the hole) and glue the back (short one) close to the hole.
• Next glue the bottom on and then the front.
• Now fit the top in the hole
• Last glue on the other hinged side.

So the kids had fun, saw a laser cutter working and the got to take something cool home.

Comments

[KonstantinG]

May I suggest a free online open source tool for designing these boxes: http://makeabox.io/ – i am the author and I am adding new features daily. Would love some feedback!

[AlbertF35]

thanks for such a work. It would be great if you add the capability of adding hinged lids and inner spacers

[JustinJ51]

What software did you use to design the box? Did you have to do the finger joints by hand or is there a feature or plugin that helps you do this?

[liquidhandwash]

I drew it in prodesk to you can see how I made a simlar box here

https://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Manufacturing-project-four-laser-cut-box/

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Sweet! I have been wanting to design some 3D laser cut box type designs! How did you come up with the design so the acrylic notches would fit into each other?

[liquidhandwash]

Have a look at https://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Manufacturing-project-four-laser-cut-box/
It has every screen shot you need to design a laser cut box.