This is my final design for my coasters box. I am now using poplar instead of plywood. I burn nice and deep, so I can sand the box as much as necessary. I do 2 passes at 2200 mm/minute and 90% Power. On tiles and on the boxes, I am no longer using Polycrylic as the clear coating over the stain and tiles. I am using Krylon Triple-Thick Clear Glaze. It takes some practice to get good with this stuff, but can be steel wooled to get a perfect finish on the boxes. The Krylon is $5 a can instead of $12 a can for the Polycrylic, and takes less coats to get a great finish.
I rounded off the corners of the opening. I use MakerCase for the initial box design, and put the grabbing slot in with the curves in Carveco. MakerCase is designed to be used with laser cutters, but I cut it out on my CNC. Since the box was designed for lasers, I had to figure out that I need to cut on the outside of the line with a -.4mm offset using a 1.5mm endmill. I get great corners on the fingers and don’t have to sand to fit like I did before. I use a golden pecan stain usually, but not always. Golden Oak is much darker, and looks good too, but less contrast with the engraving. If you have any questions, fire away.
2 Likes
Anytime you put stuff ‘together’ you have to deal with the kerf…
Looks great.
Now lase some round/square slate/tile coasters with the same logo as the inside bottom…
Take care, thanks for sharing…
