Mystery Box With Lid

A nice looking wooden box with a lid that can be used to store a present. Dimensions of the box are 9 cm x 9 cm x 9 cm.

4 mm x 600 mm x 300 mm birch multiplex

glue (woodglue or CA glue)

sandpaper (180 or 240 grit) or an electric sander

laser cutter (I used a Trotec Speedy 100R)

All parts removed from the lasercutter. The square plate in the top left hand corner will form the top part of the lid and the square below it is glued on said top part. You will notice that this second smaller square is surrounded by a frame that can act as a jig when gluing the top and bottom part of the lid together. The square plate in the bottom left corner is an optional part that is glued to the bottom of the box (inside) to add some additional strength.

All birch multiplex parts are sanded with sandpaper or an electric sander in order to remove any sooth deposited during the laser cutting. Sanding also makes the birch multiplex silky smooth.

Wood glue or CA glue is used to glue all parts together. I usually use rubber bands to hold the box parts in place waiting for the wood glue to dry completely. The lid consisting of the top part and bottom part was glued together using the frame to hold both parts in their precise location. You can see that the frame moved a little during clamping and this was corrected after the picture was taken.

The finished mystery box with lid. Unfortunately I used a bit too much glue that was not properly removed before drying.