Laser Cut Portfolio Case

All Wood Portfolio Case: All Wood Portfolio Case

Seven 1/4" MDF (Home Depot) sheets.
Roughly 30 minutes for each panel.
Simple cut settings (125/Full), engraves were at 750 and 100% power.

Here’s a walk around of the completed project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savlkBMSYok

I bought the plans from the website and poured over the layouts for some time trying to figure out the best way to cut it on the Glowforge. Some mistakes were made, but it turned out really well!

Changes I made:

  • The “J” shapes that pivot the legs were shortened on the top section due to the original plans requiring precision engraving.
  • Made all the engraves that were 0.125" deep into through hole joints.
  • Modified the main tray area to accept a “T” divider instead of the engraved option.
  • Cut out the main panel as the Glowforge cannot cut the full panel (about 4" shy).
  • Layout to optimize the Glowforge cutting area.
  • Considerable sanding to the lower joints on the outside due to issues with the opening (not sure why the plans didn’t figure this in).

Things I’d do differently:

  • Remove any additional engraving. The “tabs” on the top were not necessary in any way.
  • Change the lower joints to another format to allow for easy opening.
  • Maybe add a acrylic window to the cut out panel section for enhanced “oooh” factor.
  • Refactor the cut plan to have the bits and bobs first, then work through the sides and middle so that I can put the project together while I wait for parts.

I’m hoping to get my hands on the update for the Snapmarks to see if I can rotate the project and get a full cut next time. We’ll see…

7 Likes

Watched your video and will be waiting to see the finished case.

Thanks! I think this one is pretty much done. I’ll likely do a new one once I resolve the issues, or progress to the “gamer case” and see how that turns out.

I had a coworker suggest that I make it into a portable Raspberry Pi arcade with a monitor inside. The difficulty would be to find a small enough monitor to fit inside.