I was looking for tiered cupcake stand that I needed for a milestone, surprise birthday party. At about the same time I changed jobs. This new role gave me access to, besides other tools, a laser cutter. I therefore decided to make my own stand out of acrylic.

Step 1: Material & Software

I used Inkscape to create the drawings. When cutting the lines need to be 0.001mm thick. Since Inkscape will not display lines at this thickness, I working with them as 0.1 mm and change them to 0.001mm before sending them to the laser cutter.

The drawings were drawn to suite 8mm acrylic.

Step 2: Design

Initially I intended to have a single, central, round pillar supporting each level but I battled sourcing what I was looking for. Instead I created a stand for each level that would then lock into the level below. This also means that each level can be used by itself or as subset groups of the whole.

All levels clip into each other resulting in a solid and secure fit.

Drawings:

See attached Inkscape drawings

Specs:

5 tiers (diameters): 22cm, 29cm, 36cm, 43cm, 50cm.
Height between levels: 12cm.
Notch (top of stand): 6x8mm
Notch (bottom of stand): 14x8mm

Step 3: Learning

Pieces did not fit together as tightly as I would have liked. This was because I did not take into account the material that is vapourised on cutting.

Having said this, once clipped together the entire structure is secure and stable.