Design Help

[bundysax]

I am looking to build a square box out of 9mm acrylic, I want the box to be 8inches square. The problem is I would like a 1.25" hole on one of the corners so it can sit there by itself and I can project led lights into the box. Is there a way to design the hole into the box so I can cut it with a laser ? I will pay a resonable fee for such a design.

thanks

[vbgraves]

Is this what you mean? I just drilled a hole from a corner to the middle of the cube. If you want it to sit on a flat surface, the three points would have to be cut away.

Van

[HorridHenry]

Whats the problem of drilling the corner yourself?

A cordless drill or a dremmel drill will do it.

[bundysax]

Yes, that is what I am looking for. Why dont I drill the hole myself ? wouldnt it be easier to cut the hole out with a laser before you glues the sides together ? I also know that solidworks has a sheetmetal function where you just press a button and it will give you a drawing on how to cut the shape. A dxf file would be very cool

Thanks

[vbgraves]

You could assemble it in any fashion and then drill the hole, but if you want to pre-fabricate the pieces, I'd suggest putting a 45-deg mitered edge on all the pieces. You could then cut three of the special ones and glue them up, then glue the two assemblies.

This what you're looking for? Can your laser cut at an angle?

[BurrMan]

"A hole through the corner"

This might make things difficult. I think what you want, is a flat cut, that will allow a hole to be drilled without violating the sidwalls of the interior of the box. This also gives you a good flat bottom to sit on:



You can get this value by setting up your box, then shelling it with the 9mm value. Then run a cylinder that reps the hole diameter from a corner to the center. Then run an intersection curves command on the 2 objects, which will give you 2 sets of curves that look something like this:



You can run a bounding box command on the 2 curves seperatly to determine each ones top plane.





Each of those top planes will be used to cut the corner of your box up.



THis will give you a nice flat to set the box on, and allow you to drill a hole in it that doesnt violate any sidwalls or create any complex cuts for the pieces..

I attached a couple formats of the model for you to look at.

[bundysax]

Thank you for your efforts, I do appreciate it ! However it will be very difficult to place a 45 degree angle on the plexiglas or should I say I dont believe it would be worth the effort.

This is what brought this about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVMBPc4POA]Limited Edition Miami NYE Laser Etched 6" Lucite Cubes by Ian K. Millard (IansPrints.com) - YouTube

I will probably just cut a hole in the middle of the square.

Solidworks is kind of screwed up being that they wont let you open files from a different version, that is 2007 to 2009. I can open dxf files in adobe illustrator, that is sooo much easier.

[JerryFlyGuy]

oh it'll let you open a 2007 in 2009... it's the other way around thats the issue . There is a reason for it [other than the much acclaimed 'they want you to buy the new version' idea batted around]... the software is evolving such that w/ new functionality and new modeling methods coming out each year there is no way for the model to be opened in the prior version as it doesn't know what these new functions and features are... if you need to open something backwards [2009 on 2007] then save it as a dumb model and import it again into the prior version..


Nice project btw..


Fwiw

JFG