I chose to laser cut a tray with finger joints. I used birch wood and the blue laser machine (Universal VLS 3.6) in Nolop.

I drew an initial sketch on paper to plan out the parts I needed with specific measurements. This tray was going to hold my makeup, so the measurements were based on that. Finger joints were used to hold the parts together because it doesn’t require extra adhesive. I used Adobe Illustrator because I have experience using it, but I had to stay in the SEC computer lab to access it.

I started by drawing rectangles with the dimensions I wanted for the base, walls, and dividers. After deciding on the size for the finger joints (6.2mm), I did some quick calculations to space them evenly on the edges. See the images below for the exact numbers. It was hard drawing the actual joint parts because you have to consider how three sides come together – I ended up looking at examples online for the corner parts. I ended up creating a small length of the ridges, copying/pasting it, and connecting it with various length segments to fit within the rectangle shapes.

I also worked through this by drawing the joints with the edges that would be connected next to each other to better visualize how they should fit (below images). I used the rectangles as size references and drew within them to create the actual shapes to be cut. After creating one wall with the “fingers,” I simply duplicated it and changed the size for the different length and widths. I also added little holes/notches to connect the inner dividers to the walls by adding little sticking-out tabs that would go in matching holes in the base+outer walls. It was difficult because all the measurements had to line up exactly for the box to assemble correctly, so the drawing took the most time. I used the dimension tool a lot to check the sizes of the parts.

After uploading the .ai file to the computer, I had to change the red lines to be fully red (255, 0, 0) and the lines to be 0.001 inch thickness. After getting advice from a Nolop worker, I also taped down the edges of the wood to the machine bed, leveled the laser, and checked that the drawing was within the size of the wood sheet. They also made me check that it was a vector file, which I didn’t know it had to be for laser cutting.

The laser cutting only took around 3 minutes, which was surprisingly fast. Assembling the tray took some force to put the joints in place, but it turned out great! (if I do say so myself 😎) The custom measurements fit my products perfectly and I like that I designed something actually functional.

Examples of things that are difficult to make with more traditional technologies include detailed stencils and etched pictures. Stencils for letters or images can be hard to cut with a mill/lathe because it usually requires small details and clean edges. Laser cutting stencils is preferable because it is more accurate and the material does not have to be maneuvered around the tool. Etched pictures are also hard to make with a mill/lathe/traditional technologies because they don’t have the capability to create small details, cut different depths, or make non-linear patterns. Laser etching is better because it can replicate a given image using different depths and high precision/detail to create an accurate result.