Laser cutting a Desk Lamp

What are you making?
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I am taking an Industrial Design course, and our next project is to make a Desk Lamp.
We are required to use laser cutting to create the pieces.
I have everything I need (signed up as member, have badge access, took orientation, took laser cutting training). All I need is some recommendations for what materials to use.

I was thinking something I can buy whenever I need to, rather than something I have to ship, in case I need to make some extra cuts and pieces last minute and don’t want to risk waiting on shipping time.

My designs use mostly slot fits, so the width of the slot fit would be the thickness of the material (this makes me thing thin materials, a.k.a. sheet metal, are out).

Anyone have any suggestions on readily available materials and where to find them?
Mostly looking for wood suggestions, but acrylic is potentially fair game too.

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Lusturcraft sells acrylic scraps by the pound they might even have an off white acrylic which would be an easy buffer over clear they have different shapes and sizes.

As for tabs inkscape has a lot of box maker extensions for making tabbed boxes

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Here’s a link to give you some ideas

https://3axis.co/laser-cut/lamp/

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There are some 5’ x 5’ sheets of Baltic Birch 1/8" plywood in the classroom. They are $30 each. If you take one, just leave $30 in an envelope in the drop box, and put PLYWOOD on the outside of the envelope.

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Appreciate the ideas. Never would have found this otherwise!

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Good idea! How many are available? Or is running out not a concern? I’m not sure how many I’d need, my final design is not chosen yet.

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I counted a couple weeks ago and we had 13 sheets still available

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Liked J Withers post on lamps so much I had to try to make the jet this is what I came up with from a few scraps I had laying around 12 by 12 acrylics ⅛inch scrap I had laying around and some PVC pipe (slot cut with dremel cutoff disk) and some fairy lights I got real cheap on Amazon that I had laying around from a previous build this is what I came up with!

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Going to make some endcaps On a 3-D printer with legs
I put some of the paper from the Vinyl cutting masking to reduce fogging on acrylic then I got it wet and rolled my thumb over it to remove and then finally cleaned it up with a little bit of alcohol
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158394344661329032502389613148392160×2160 1.01 MB

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That’s really cool! How do you clean up acrylic after it’s cut, just alcohol? Or will the vinegar work?

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Thank you :slight_smile:

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Frank you keep amazing me love it all!!!

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I used alcohol because I took it home and that is what I had on hand. Really any mild cleaner will work just cleaning off back masking material

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Thanks all! I think I’m going with 1/8 inch Acrylic. Any suggestions on speed/power settings for cutting through? No engraving with this project.

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15 speed
80 max
80 min
If it dont cut thru or misses spots bump it up to:
100max
100min
Set depth on luigi at 8mm
If you do any engrave or fill
400 speed
30 max
20min
These work for me

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