Laser Cutting & Inkscape
Updated: Apr 3, 2022
What did I make?
I designed a coin holder for quarters, dimes, pennies, and nickels. The main purpose of my design was to make a unique coin box that I plan on either using in my future dorm room or at my own room where I live. I was originally thinking on making the design be more circular, but I wanted to have enough space to fill it with a lot of coins.
How did I make it?
The overall design uses a box jigsaw with a hollow top. There is a base circle at the bottom of it on the inside. There is also a decorative swirl on that same circle just for fun. When I was designing it, the top pieces were supposed to have more jigsaw pieces in order for the box to be solid, but I removed the tops of those so it has a better look to it and makes it look like it was meant to be hollow on the inside. In order to design it, I first created the 6 rectangles through the extension feature. From there, I deleted the top side of the box. Then I added a circle shape right in the middle of the base piece. I then clicked on edit path and deleted the top and some of the sides of the side pieces. This removed some height of the box and I then drew a straight line connecting the two open sides of the pieces.
What Could I have done better?
I would have liked to have made the sides of the boxes have some type of design cut into them to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. I think if I were to redo the design I would incorporate that somehow and I also think I might remove the part where it says coin holder. By labeling it "coin holder", it implies that the designs function is only good for one task and I feel like I am limiting my design by doing that. In the future, I might use it as a completely different holder so it might seem kind of funny to call it a coin holder and have it filled with something other than coins.
How will I use laser cutting in the future?
I will definitely be using laser cutting with my design project along with my group member. We have already used the laser cutter in our faceplate design and it has been an extremely helpful tool with making that part. We may use the laser cutter for our backplate as well. Outside of our design project, my future career involves engineering and I can imagine that I will at least use a laser cutter at least one more time in my life. The skills and overall basic understanding of how it works will definitely help me out if I ever use one again.