Laser Cut - Presentation Box for Student Exemplars

 

This creation has come from one of our amazing teachers here at school which came out of an idea about ways to display exemplars of students work.  We have looked online at various items for displaying of figures with a combination of LED strip lighting and MDF or wood veneer.

The idea is to have a semi permanent display with some exemplars physically present to show as a example of our students creativity and innovation.

In the example display box shown left the laser cutter has been used to create both the top and bottom for the box which has then been stained to alter the colour.

The walls of the box have been created by using the laser cutter to cut perspex which has then been anchored into position by the slots created by the box.

The design at present measures 200mm by 220mm and has a height of 260mm.   The wooden lid is designed to lock the Perspex into place and is 220mm by 220mm and is 5mm high. 

Although there is no LED strip lighting directly linked to the display box it would be potentially possible via the lid and a battery operate light (inexpensive fairy lights might also work in the same manner).

This would potentially allow the school to easily create a bank of exemplars that could either be stacked on top of each other or combined with another furniture item.

This photograph left shows the storage box placed in a cube shaped storage item - although if it was to be permanently mounted into something such as this we would potentially look at the dimensions to increase the size relative to where it is placed.

There are a significant number of sites online which contains laser cut files for the purpose.

We also have created a bank of examples of laser cut projects which are located via the tab on the main page of this blog.

Market Day 2025: Mini Music Box

 

We have a number of projects for our 2025 Market Day, when our school will be holding a huge event for our local community.

As we have demonstrated and mentioned every student is part of a business group and each group has a product produced by the students using some of the technology and design available to our students.

We cannot showcase all of the individual businesses (although we will of course be producing significant media from the event that we will be posting here).

In this example shown in the photograph the students

have a wind up musical box, which has been housed inside a laser cut box.   Following the construction of the box it has been stained with a wood stain.   As with most of the boxes once they have been flat printed on the laser cutter they are then glued together using wood glue.

Of note with this design there is a handle which actions as a mini crank to work the music box and this can be clearly seen in the photo on the right hand side.

This box took fifteen minutes to print.

Laser Cut: Storage Box

 

Challenge: Using the laser cutter to construct and personalise a storage box.

Background: This was created by a student who was working in our senior school with SketchUp and was creating an individualised storage box.  Our senior students are able to follow a series of flipped video content which allows them to follow a series of steps to construct the tabs to make the box.   When this has been happened the student then pops the laser cut design out of the MDF.   Following this the student needs to simply use PVA wood glue to hold the design in place until a time that the glue sets and the design is complete.   The personalisation of the design was completed by the addition of a area of particular interest to the person it was given to which was shown by being placed on the lid, as part of the design.

Level of Difficulty: Low this student was able to work independently by following teacher created video instructions.  The student was able to print the resulting print and independently put it together.  There was no teacher input provided to this task.

Timeframe: Five minutes to laser cut the design.

Size: box measures 160mm long,  was 80mm deep and 60mm high as shown in the photograph this produced a long thin box.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This print is ideal for producing something effectively and the laser cutter has the ability to decorate or personalise something.   There is a question of what additional parts could be added to this design, such as using the 3D Printer to produce a lock or a hinge to lock the lid in place.

Laser Cut Storage Box - Senior Project

Challenge: For student to design a storage box, using the laser cutter.

Background: Our senior school students take part in what is called DPE once a week.  This allows them to focus on a particular subject including a focus on producing a project using the school laser cutter.

This storage box, shown left, was produced by a student in one day.    There were a series of instructional videos that were created by a teacher.   These had instructions for the students to follow, allowing them to complete the process independently but also allowing the student to introduce a degree of personalisation of the design, as some of the features could be modified without causing significant problem to the creation of the unit process.  This box is intended as an introductory task.   Followers of this blog will recognise that the boxes, which were also decorated  and sold as part of our school market day.

Once the process was completed (five minutes) the student was then required to take the individual pieces that made the box and glue them together with wood glue.   The wood used in this instance was 5mm MDF bamboo.   The box was then given time to set/dry and was complete within four hours of the project starting.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   While this was completed independently it was completed by a senior student.  The senior students at our school are Y7/8 so twelve and thirteen.  This would be challenging for younger students, also of note that SketchUp was used so this requires a laptop.  

Timeframe: Five minutes for the laser cutting, while the entire project was four hours but this was related to the fact that the project needed to be glued, have the glue set and have the box complete.

Size: The dimensions of the box was 80mm across the front and all the rest of the sides.   The height was likewise 80mm as was the depth.

Next Steps for the student/What we would do differently: The obvious next follow up is to decorate the box by spray painting.  This project is designed as an introductory task, and the intention is to use this as a starting point, which will allow the students to apply the knowledge and think how they might create their own individualised boxes and projects.   As noted the time of the printing of the box parts is five minutes, which when compared to 3D Printing a box of this size which would be measured in hours.   The student will be working on a range of laser cut designs in the following weeks which will be detailed on this blog.