Improved online glueless laser cut box designer
New free online gluesless laser cut box designer - just enter your dimensions and download automatically generated plans, ready to go. See it at http://imagio.dk/boxmaker
The "Viking" box, with integral wedge connectors, will often be a better option than the well known (to Makers and laser cutters) standard finger box, as it is structurally stronger (does not depend on glue), does not fall apart while you are assembling it like finger boxes sometimes to, and offers an easy possibility to open and close the box - good for both gift boxes and quick boxes for your electronic, Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc. projects.
Suitable materials are e.g. 3 - 4 mm HDF, 3 - 6 mm plexiglass, 4 - 24 mm plywood, or steel, aluminium or stainless steel of you have access to a >500W laser cutter.
Laser cutters offer the possibility of a myriad of clever connection mechanisms and the possibility to make custom items precisely tailor made to measure. However, designing custom boxes and project enclosures takes time. A good solution is a parametric box designer, where you can just enter the measurements you need and a computer program does all the hard work for you, instantly delivering a perfect design.
Nicolas, FabLab RUC / illutron, invented a Viking bed inspired quick connector - came up with it while we were working on the modular houses for Roskilde Festival designed by MOLA Systems. Instead of having to buy nuts and bolts (and threading a nut onto a bolt takes quite a long time), Nicolas had the idea of a tab with a hole in it for a wedge. The tab and wedge are “free”, in the sense that they can just be cut out from the material used, and they are very quick to assemble and disassemble, while being a strong and permanent solution in many situations.
Nicolas has combined both advantages - the clever connectors and the automatic parametric design - into an automatic box designer for the “Viking” box.
It is offered free to the worldwide Maker community here:
Alternatives, if you want a more standard "finger box", are
Makercase
Rahulbotics Boxmaker
Frag den spatz Boxdesigner
