Laser Cut 101: Plant Wall Stands

Challenge: To extend a student using a Laser Cutter during independent work time.

Background: This students has shown a considerable talent to independently work on design projects using the school laser cutter, GIMP and Sketch-Up to design project, material and works.   In this instance we were looking for short term projects, ones that the student could complete easily and use as a starting point for something further.

In this example we used a common search engine to look for 'interesting laser cut projects' and saw various hanging stands.   The student took the concept and used Sketch-Up to design a three piece laser cut with the intention of using it to have a small pot plant placed upon it.    The project was cut from the MDF and then glued together using PVA wood glue.   

The next steps for this student are the key.   The project works, the time is exceptionally short (less than five minutes to laser cut the design) - the questions posed to the student: how stable is the design? How much weight can the design hold? How can they add details or features? How can they increase the impact of the design? Would a different wood make a difference? 

Left: The final design shown left having been spray painted and then mounted on the wall.   Given that the design is MDF the decision was made to mount LEGO plants on the holder to act as a test item.