Week 2

Vinyl & Laser Cutting

09/10/2025-09/17/2025

Kerf Testing

After learning about the safety training of the maker space, I worked with Ruipeng, Awu, and Charlie in testing laser cutting to determine the kerf.

After a series of testing, we found that the range between 3.2-3.6 works well for two cardboards to lock onto each other.

Vinyl Cutting

For vinyl cutting, I downloaded the design of Shanghai's F1 track from svgfind and added texts to it.

Peeling off the sticker was a bit of a challenge however, as the track is large and the path is thin. While moving the sticker to my computer, I messed up the shape of the track slightly. Looking back, I probably should've used the transfer tape for an easier transfer process.

Laser Cutting

For laser cutting cutting, I got my inspiration from YouTube.

Bend Design

To build the bendable flexture designs, I first tested a common pattern found online. However, I find this pattern to be very flimsy. From my understanding, I was not executing the pattern correctly. I also learned that I have to reduce the power to not fully cut through the cardboard.

After a brief search on the CBA website, I arrived at Addison Spiegel's project from 2024, where he showed a successful bend design using simple straight line that doesn't fully cut through the cardboard.

After a few experiments, I found that the setting for scoring the cardboard.

• 37% power
• 75mm/s cut speed

For cutting through the cardboard, I used:

• 87% power
• 37mm/s cut speed

Here's a comparison of my old design and the new design inspired by Addison. It is quite clear that the new bend design has a higher flexibility.

Box Design

For the square box, I designed each side to be 82mm with a 18mm long bend connecting each side. In addition, I designed each hinge with dimension 3.5mm * 20mm.

The final result looks like this:

Content Design

For the content design, I chose to recreate some of the famous sceneries of Malaysia, a country with great food and city skyline. For the corners, I created a 90 degree arc with radius of 11.46mm, which is calculated based on the fact that 1/4 of the circle's circumference is 18mm.

Assembly

At last, I assembled the pieces together and have a satisfying lightbox.