But it was also a test of the results of the Slicer program for Fusion 360, and I’m sorry to say, I don’t believe it did what I think it should have done.
The program placed a couple of unnecessary cutouts where they weren’t required (due to the smaller size of the actual material being used), and they make for a much more difficult assembly and a weak spot in the build, in several places.
I can fix that by reworking the design in F360 later, but I’m going to wait to do it until we have some actual 1/4" Proofgrade to work with, because having to cut this thing out of generic ply was a royal pain in the patootie.
The generic ply was such a mess, with voids in the fill causing massive charring in places and bad cuts, that all I could do with it was paint it afterwards to try to make it look uniform. (yech!)
Anyway, the box itself looks fine, and I like the open sides, but it’s not structurally sound enough as it is to make a purse out of it…so I turned it into a sewing basket to hold a few tools. I’ll save the handbag for the PG when it comes out.
This is great @Jules !
Back when I first ordered, I was thinking “this will be great for cutting my acylic and prototyping”.
Not so much anymore.
There are going to be so many other things I’m going to want to do with it.
I may never get around to making another box.
I don’t bother with generic plywood anymore. I use Baltic Birch ply (real stuff) which has no voids, tight patches (one side only) and yields far better and more consistent results. I get mine off Amazon or from Woodcraft. The local store has 30x60" sheets for under $25. I rip it on the table saw into (nominally) 10x20" pieces and it’s good to go in the laser.
Oh all the fun I have had at Home Depot pulling out sheet after sheet of 1/4" underlayment until I found one without all the issues (and yes I do get looked at like I have lost my mind lol)… it is possible, but it is rare. lol I now source from all options…
I DO want to warn other noobs that do go to Home Depot looking for some ply… even just to practice on. NOT all ply is even regular ply. I made a huge mistake buying a 4x8 sheet called Sandeply (it has a beautifully uniformly light surface), but the inside layer is a porus “wood” (which I would liken to a Pringle if normal ply has a kettle cooked chip inside lol) that burns and chars like the dickens and is VERY weak and light and will break if you cut something smaller than an inch… where you can go TINY with real wood. Just be sure you don’t buy that!
My fellow sewer! Want to attempt to make this with me? lol
I was unaware that there were things called sex bolts. I am sorry if I offend anyone’s sensitive sensibilities with my salacious laser cutting plans. lol
As was I. I’ve always heard them called binder bolts or chicago screws.
If you want, I’ll take a shot at making this out of 3mm Baltic Birch (non-PG). From the notes it looks like it’ll take a bit of rejiggering but shouldn’t be a bid deal.
BTW, Home Depot sells them as 3/16" (.1875" dia) which is 4.8mm vs the 4mm the designer was specing for his change. I’ll look for some others as they’re stupid expensive if you’re getting 2 dozen of them by the piece from HD. (Amazon has them 100 for $11 so I’ll order a bunch but start with a handful from HD.)
I’ve had the best luck with the craft ply at Menards that is 5 ply and fairly good surface, but not finished and not smooth. But it still averages about two void/glue globs per square foot.
There needs to be a “Nice Save” badge for redirecting one project into something else when certain design criteria weren’t reached. In this case, @Jules made great lemonade from what was supposed to be a handbag. Amazing testament to your creativity.
I’m going to run it with 3mm (1/8") first as that’s what the design is for (and my Chicago screws are sized to). If it’s too sketchy I’ll modify the design for 1/4". Gives me something to work on tonight