Plywood Laser Cutting Project

An interesting form and repeated pattern from plywood 1.5mm + zip locks.

The plywood pieces can be interlocked with each other by the special slits on their sides or attached to by their 'general' structure using one of the piece's slits to grab it.

- plywood 1.5mm

- zip locks

- container for soaking the plywood pieces

There are various ways to shape the plywood to obtain an interesting bendable curve (see paper models, pic.1) but modeling it in 2D as a rectangle form and laser cutting it as such was much easier and didn't pose a big issue for obtaining a curved/ bendable shape at the end.

The final 2D model has two cuts on each end to attach the pieces together and two holes to pass the zip locks through to hold the rectangles in a bent form. Another variant (see pic. 2 - longest rectangles) have two cuts on the opposing sides but this model causes the piece, once bent, to break easily along those cuts - not recommended unless (maybe!) made much longer. The optimal size of the rectangles in plywood 1.5mm for this project was 2cm x 30cm, shorter or thinner versions (pic.2) would break easily or not bend at all even after soaking overnight.

*soaking the plywood overnight makes it easier to bend but it's possible to bend it after 15-30min of soaking - requires to be more careful

An important aspect to take into consideration while laser cutting pieces for this project is the direction of the grain of the plywood board that is going to be used. Although the pieces were soaked in water for easier bending pieces that went against the grain, when bent, broke very easily (pic.3), following the grain made the pieces harder to bend but also harder to snap.

Once the pieces were laser cut, soaking them for a few hours or through the night made them easier to shape and zip lock without risking them breaking. Finally, when all pieces are zip locked into shape, you can choose how to attach them together in different ways.