A custom fiber laser engraved sigarette case as a present for a soon to be godfather. The box for 20 sigarettes is selfmade from 0.5mm thick nickel silver sheet and tin soldered together.On top the name of the godfather…on the front the name of the baby…lower the names of his wife and son. Extra room below for more names if needed. There’s a small neodymium magnet inside to keep the hinged lid closed…
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Super impressed that you actually made the case itself, and it looks like a tiny rolled edge at the lip of the opening - how did you do that? are those edges folded back on themselves?
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@HoutmeyersP , that looks really nice! Did you cut the case parts with your laser or by hand? Did you do the engraving after the case was assembled or when the parts were flat? Maybe you could describe your process?
The cutting of the parts was done by hand…if you would cut them by laser chances are the thin sheet wil warp unless you are using an expensive clamp to stretch the sheet flat during cutting…i do not have that clamp. All engraving were done after soldering. I used a aluminium block to insert in the box as a heat sink…so most heat while laser engraving gets absorbed into the alu block and the thin sheet metal will not deform. To further prevent any heat build up i did all engravings using the laser in multiple 10 passes steps…leaving the case to aircool between steps. To bend the 2 halves of the box i used a jig made from scrap hpl panel( photo below)…the opening between the 2 sides is 1mm wider than the insert leaving 0.5mm space at both sides to allow the sheet metal to fit into. I put the sheat on the jig and center the form piece( with rounded of corners) on top…then used a heavy bench vice to push the forming piece into the lower part of the jig. At one side of the box i added a overlapping/recessed edge to get a wider solder seam.
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Hi. There’s no extra rolled edge allthough it lookes like that , i only used a red scotchbrite wheel in a drillpress to soften all the sharp edges on the box. The outside finish is also done with an even finer grey scotchbrite wheel to remove small scratches and give an overall uniform look , also preventing the box to shine like a mirror. You cannot keep a mirrorfinish clean for very long. Thanks for your interest 
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Thanks for the extra detail, very interesting!
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@HoutmeyersP , yes, thanks for the additional details! I’d like to build something using this method. I need to do some more research and probably practice soldering a bit before I make the attempt. I’d love to see any other projects you have done.
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I love perfection and you have achieved exactly that. Congratulations to you and all.
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If you try soldering pay special attention to a perfect fit…the smaller the gaps between parts the easyer the solder will flow. Degrease and clean all joints , slightly sand and use a suited flux for the solder you use.Solder will flow where the part is the hottest…using heat you can pull the solder along a joint until its fully soldered. If you want to solder thin sheet metal its wise to make an overlap on the ends where they meet.
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What solder do you use? - is it just a standard silver solder - as used for plumbing?, and are you just using a small butane torch?
Hi , yes simple copper solder and a small butane torch. Thin sheet metal ( brass, copper , bronze , nickel silver) does not take long to heat up. The solder brand i use is Griffon 97/3 and the flux is Griffon S-39 universal flux. But i guess there are a lot of good brands that also can be used. If you are interested in maker vids ( i dont have those) search for " Banjo show" on You Tube…nice build vids.
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