Laser Engraved Flutes and Lasered Presentation Box

I wanted to make a shower gift for my niece.  I decided that I wanted to make a set of four engraved campaign flutes.  

Because of the cool "Z" stem, I wanted to make sure the the alignment was correct for the design.  I'm not going to go into how to etch glass -- it is the same process as a laser engraved beer mug -- only smaller.

After I etched the flutes, I realized that I needed to make a box for them.  This proved to be a bigger problem than I knew at the time.  I did not want to use foam to pad the fultes -- so I needed a way to hold them apart so that they would not break while they were being carried to the shower.

This is what I came up with as a solution

Step 1: Make the Box / Trace a Glass

I measured the height and width of the flutes and added two inches in each direction

Making the box is the same process as the the gear chain guard that I made.  I like to use the http://boxmaker.rahulbotics.com/ website.   It is pretty straight forward.

The real hard work was in coming up with a system to hold the flutes so that they did not clink together and chip / break.

What I did was trace the flute onto a piece of paper, then scan it into corel draw and then laser it out onto cardboard.  It took me about six tries to get the outline of the flute correct.

Once I had that, I was able to start cutting each divider.

Step 2: Glue Stand-offs Onto the Holders

I milled pine that was 1/2 x 1/2 and cut it into 1 1/2" long pieces. 

I glued up two little "shelves" with stand-offs on the outside.  I then made the same pattern for two more, but I laser cut notches that were 5/8" x 5/8" to allow for the stand-offs to be stacked in the box.  I also glued stand-offs to the center of the wood separators that had the notches.

The idea is to make sure that each layer is firmly held by the other layers.

This box is not for shipping, it is only for hand delivery!

Step 3: Pack the Box!d

Once I was sure that this would work, I disassembled everything and started stacking the layers in the lasered box.

You can see how they fit in order.

I also cut a finger-hole in the top of the box.  I had forgotten about this and I realized that without it, it would be a pain in the butt to open without breaking the glasses.

I really enjoyed making this!  I made it at TechShop