Exercise 2: Perfect laser cut cardboard cube

Due: Thursday April 18

For exercise 2, you need to cut and assemble a perfect cardboard cube cut with the Rabbit laser cutter.  It must look just like your hand cut cardboard cube – except that it will be even more perfect. You may have to use an Xacto knife to cut the shelves so the box sides fit together, but the external edges should be perfectly straight and matched.

This perfect cube has one more requirement: It must be the largest (maximal) cube you can cut with the remains of your cardboard from the other cube exercise. Take a picture of your cardboard with an outline of where you plan to cut  the edges of your new cube. Do this before you cut!

On Canvas, upload your dxf files, a photo of your uncut cardboard and a selfie of you with your new truly perfect cardboard cube. There are 3 separate upload links for this.

During class, we will set up a schedule so that you can each work one-on-one with an IDeATe tech advisor who has already been qualified with all the requirements for the new Rabbit laser training.

Before you start, read the IDeATe help files on the Rabbit lasers: https://resources.ideate.cmu.edu/equipment/laser-cutter/

The Rabbit laser cutters in IDeATe use RDWorks to process the CAD files and download them to the laser. If you have a PC, you can download a personal copy of RDWorks from https://en.freedownloadmanager.org/Windows-PC/RDWorks-FREE.html.  The site looks a little sketchy, but it seems to be OK. With the software, you will be able to do a lot of the preprocessing of your file, but you need to be at the computer next to the laser cutter to download and execute your file.

IDeATe has a quick guide on the Rabbit laser cutters with more complete instructions in the binders located on the front of each laser.