Laser Cut Wood Wallet
I made it at Techshop
http://techshop.ws/
I needed a wallet that was minimalistic, sleek, and inexpensive. This let me to create my own LaserCut wood wallet. This wallet holds my essentials with a personalized touch, and can be customized to however you like.
The best part about this wallet is the cost. It's comprised of two parts: 3 mm plywood, and bicycle inner tube. A fresh sheet of plywood and inner tube can be bought for a total of $25 dollars with enough material to easily create 25+ wallets.
I was lucky enough to find these materials for free.
http://techshop.ws/
I needed a wallet that was minimalistic, sleek, and inexpensive. This let me to create my own LaserCut wood wallet. This wallet holds my essentials with a personalized touch, and can be customized to however you like.
The best part about this wallet is the cost. It's comprised of two parts: 3 mm plywood, and bicycle inner tube. A fresh sheet of plywood and inner tube can be bought for a total of $25 dollars with enough material to easily create 25+ wallets.
I was lucky enough to find these materials for free.
Materials and Equipment
MATERIALS
EQUIPMENT
The materials should be easy to find. Plywood can be found at any hardware store (Home Depot) or several places online (Amazon). The bicycle inner tube can be found at any bicycle store. I was able to get a used one by just asking. It's important that the inner tube diameter is large enough so that it can comfortably fit around you cards.
The Laser Cutter I used was the one in San Jose Tech Shop. Any other cutter should be suffice, just note the cutting settings will differ.
- 3 mm thick plywood
- Standard bicycle inner tube (26" x 1.75")
EQUIPMENT
- 60 W Epilog Laser Cutter
- Software: AutoCAD
- Pair of scissors
The materials should be easy to find. Plywood can be found at any hardware store (Home Depot) or several places online (Amazon). The bicycle inner tube can be found at any bicycle store. I was able to get a used one by just asking. It's important that the inner tube diameter is large enough so that it can comfortably fit around you cards.
The Laser Cutter I used was the one in San Jose Tech Shop. Any other cutter should be suffice, just note the cutting settings will differ.
Cutting the Wood Frames
Use the Epilog Laser to Cut out the wood designs.
For the design, I measured the half-circle cutouts to be just about as big as my thumb (About 55m). The grooves on the sides for the band are 2 mm deep. I found this to be a bit too deep, and would suggest 1mm deep next time.
For the cutting, here are the parameters I used:
- Frequency: 500 Hz
- Power: 90%
- Speed: 10%
For the design, I measured the half-circle cutouts to be just about as big as my thumb (About 55m). The grooves on the sides for the band are 2 mm deep. I found this to be a bit too deep, and would suggest 1mm deep next time.
For the cutting, here are the parameters I used:
- Frequency: 500 Hz
- Power: 90%
- Speed: 10%
Cutting the Black Band
Using scissors, make 2 straight cuts into the inner tube perpendicular to its length to make the band. The width of the band should be about 1mm shorter than that of the side notch in the wood.
Assembly
Pull the black elastic band around the 2 wood pieces. They should be tightly bound together.
Enjoy Your Custom Wallet!
Enjoy your wallet! Put in your cards and money, and shake it up a bit to make sure everything is secure. I haven't lost anything so far, and the band is still strong. Enjoy!