Heart Shaped Box Big Vs Small Vetric Cut2D

I made this Heart shaped box sometime ago, and with the Big vs Small contest in mind I wanted to see how small I could reduce the box, and laser the same Celtic knot design onto it as well.

I am using Vetric Cut 2D to initially sketch out the boxes and also to provide the g-code as well, this method of designing the box will work for any size box, I think the smaller you go you definitely need to use hardwood as the tolerances are pretty tight and softwood will just tear during the cut.

We will be using the CNC machine to cut out the boxes

And a Laserpecker Laser for the Celtic knots

Personal protective equipment during Lathe work.

Dust mask

Ear and eye protection(Wear the correct goggles when using the Laser)

Lets move onto the design.

6mm Oak sheet off cut

4mm Oak sheet off cut

1mm flat bottomed router bit

Fine sandpaper

Boiled Linseed oil or Danish oil

On opening up Cut2D we initially set up the work piece, for the first smaller heart shaped box, i started off with 30mm Width and Height the Oak sheet has a depth of 6mm.

Work XY position will be starting from the centre of our work piece, the size of the Oak sheet can be any size as we are starting from the centre of the box, also the position can be adjusted to get closer to an edge on the wood to save material wastage.

The next stage is to import and trace a heart shape, once the bitmap has been traced, centralise it.

I now use the offset tab and create a 1.5 offset to both the inner and outer of our original heart shape.

This is the sketch part finished, we can use this for both the base and the lid of the box.

We now go into the area where we can select cutting paths for our small box.

The first cut will be making a pocket in the middle part of the box, highlight the inner offset, depth is 4mm and bit size is 1mm, calculate and review, rename the pocket operation.

Next we highlight the original heart line and also the outer one and create another pocket of 2.5mm this creates a lip for the lid when its fitted. same 1mm bit

Final cut for the base is to cut it out from the stock.

We create a profile cut for this operation, highlight just the outer line, and select the profile tab, depth is 6.3mm so we cut through the stock, select Tabs and add tabs to the toolpath.

Calculate, review

Now check all the cutting paths and save as one file, we are using the bit throughout the operation.

The base of the box is now cut out, lightly sand and put to one side.

For this operation we delete the inner offset line of the heart, we then highlight the original line, we now create a pocket for this cutting operation.

Cut depth is 2.5mm same 1mm bit.

Calculate, review and rename.

The last cut is to highlight the outer line of the heart and create a profile Tab including Tabs.

The depth of the cut is 6.3mm

Calculate, review and rename.

Save the file.

We now have our first smaller box approx 30mm

I wanted to see if i could go a bit smaller, bearing mind i have the Celtic Knot pattern to laser i used exactly the same sketch design but used 4mm Oak sheet.

I changed the thickness of material to 4mm in the set up and also made the work area 20mm Depth and 2omm height.

Going through the motions of the first small box, i ended up with another box albeit smaller.

Final thing to do was to laser the box lids with the Celtic Knot design with the Laserpecker.

This was done and then a quick rub with boiled Linseed oil and then a small piece of black felt inside same as the original heart shaped box.

There we have it, a Big vs Small Heart shape box.

I hope you enjoy this Instructable and go on to create your own box, you can choose any design within reason it doesn't have to be a Heart shape, using the offsets to create guides for the lids will work with any shape just as long as the Tolerances aren't too tight.