Plywood Light Fixture
For this project, I used the raster (engraving) and vector (cutting) capabilities of the Epilog Laser Cutter to create a hanging light fixture out of plywood.
Reflective Log:
1/28/19
Today I looked for inspiration for a plywood light fixture. I came across an aesthetic lamp on Google and designed my first prototype off of it. This design contained eight “legs” connected to a base but to conserve my testing cardboard, I only drew one of the legs in CorelDRAW.
1/30/19
Today I laser cut my first design on cardboard. Looking at it assembled, I decided to change the orientation of the legs to point outwards to make the fixture, as a whole, look bigger. This was done by changing the slit on the legs to the opposite side.
2/2/19
Today I rounded the corners and added small adjustments to the legs. I also made small adjustments and additions to my base.
2/4/19
Today I added a circular gradient to be rastered on my base and started my first cut on plywood. The gradient was not as drastic as expected so I started considering new ideas. In addition, I chose the laser cut settings for balsa wood, expecting the result to be similar to plywood. However, these settings were too “weak” for the plywood which forced me to send my plywood through the laser cutter four consecutive times. The resulting product experienced a lot of kerf and was stained greatly from the multiple laser runs. Due to this, Doctor JAK gave me another piece of plywood to work with.
2/5/19
Contemplating other ways to add my own flare to the light fixture, I considered the Filipino sun. Changing the shape of my base accordingly, I was able to imitate the extending rays. Going further with my design, the Filipino flag also incorporates stars. With this in mind, an abstract star design was added to replace the rastered circular gradient on the base. Considering the connection between the light itself with the actual plywood light fixture, I considered different designs to make their connection both aesthetic and functional. My final design for this connection was to make a rectangle in the base large enough for the plug of the light to fit through. However, this rectangle could not rest evenly on the circular light which prompted me to make another piece. This piece would attach to the light itself to make sure the base would rest evenly on the light. In conclusion, this was done to keep the light perpendicular to the base. Due to maker lab time restrictions, I was able to finish the rastering but cut only the base out of the light fixture. The reason for this time crunch was due to plywood needing a slower cut speed.
2/6/19
Today I was able to print out the legs of my design. Once this was completed, I assembled my final design and used wood glue to hold the connections securely due to the large amount of kerf.
Conclusion:
Looking at my final creation, I can say that I am really proud of how it turned out. Because I am Filipino, I think my incorporation of the Filipino sun on my base shape and star engraving allowed me to add my own meaningful flare and make it one of a kind. In addition, I think the shadow the light fixture produces is very unique. As far as some of the problems I experienced, I can definitely say kerf was one of the issues. Due to the difference in settings between cardboard and plywood, I did not account for the drastic difference in kerf. This, in turn, made my connections a little loose which justifies why I had to use glue. Looking into solutions to this problem, I could have easily ran test runs on my plywood to confirm the amount of kerf rather than assuming the change of kerf on the plywood would be negligible to the cardboard.
Reflective Log:
1/28/19
Today I looked for inspiration for a plywood light fixture. I came across an aesthetic lamp on Google and designed my first prototype off of it. This design contained eight “legs” connected to a base but to conserve my testing cardboard, I only drew one of the legs in CorelDRAW.
1/30/19
Today I laser cut my first design on cardboard. Looking at it assembled, I decided to change the orientation of the legs to point outwards to make the fixture, as a whole, look bigger. This was done by changing the slit on the legs to the opposite side.
2/2/19
Today I rounded the corners and added small adjustments to the legs. I also made small adjustments and additions to my base.
2/4/19
Today I added a circular gradient to be rastered on my base and started my first cut on plywood. The gradient was not as drastic as expected so I started considering new ideas. In addition, I chose the laser cut settings for balsa wood, expecting the result to be similar to plywood. However, these settings were too “weak” for the plywood which forced me to send my plywood through the laser cutter four consecutive times. The resulting product experienced a lot of kerf and was stained greatly from the multiple laser runs. Due to this, Doctor JAK gave me another piece of plywood to work with.
2/5/19
Contemplating other ways to add my own flare to the light fixture, I considered the Filipino sun. Changing the shape of my base accordingly, I was able to imitate the extending rays. Going further with my design, the Filipino flag also incorporates stars. With this in mind, an abstract star design was added to replace the rastered circular gradient on the base. Considering the connection between the light itself with the actual plywood light fixture, I considered different designs to make their connection both aesthetic and functional. My final design for this connection was to make a rectangle in the base large enough for the plug of the light to fit through. However, this rectangle could not rest evenly on the circular light which prompted me to make another piece. This piece would attach to the light itself to make sure the base would rest evenly on the light. In conclusion, this was done to keep the light perpendicular to the base. Due to maker lab time restrictions, I was able to finish the rastering but cut only the base out of the light fixture. The reason for this time crunch was due to plywood needing a slower cut speed.
2/6/19
Today I was able to print out the legs of my design. Once this was completed, I assembled my final design and used wood glue to hold the connections securely due to the large amount of kerf.
Conclusion:
Looking at my final creation, I can say that I am really proud of how it turned out. Because I am Filipino, I think my incorporation of the Filipino sun on my base shape and star engraving allowed me to add my own meaningful flare and make it one of a kind. In addition, I think the shadow the light fixture produces is very unique. As far as some of the problems I experienced, I can definitely say kerf was one of the issues. Due to the difference in settings between cardboard and plywood, I did not account for the drastic difference in kerf. This, in turn, made my connections a little loose which justifies why I had to use glue. Looking into solutions to this problem, I could have easily ran test runs on my plywood to confirm the amount of kerf rather than assuming the change of kerf on the plywood would be negligible to the cardboard.
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