Press Fit Objects With the Laser Cutter- Tea Organizer

For this project, where we were assigned to create a press fit object by using the Laser Cutter, I decided to utilize this time to create something I really need. I have a very small section of my kitchen where I can store stuff, and I really love tea. I have a lot of tea bags just lying around my section, and it always looks so disorganized. So I decided to challenge myself by trying to create a press-fit object that hangs on the wall next to the microwave to hold all of my tea.

The materials I used were Fusion 360, the Laser Cutter, and Adobe Illustrator!

For my first step, I sketched out a design I liked and then held it against my wall to see if I liked it. Once I figure out a design I like, I have to measure the size of my tea bags, which are 3in by 2.5 in. I used this to fill in the rest of my measurements on my sketch. I then, from the sketch, tried to figure out where I was going to put some of the joints so I could get started on designing my sketch on Fusion.

After my sketch, I started designing on Fusion by first filling out my parameters from the measurements I had made prior. After this, I started sketching. My design was mainly made up of rectangles of different sizes and different cutouts. I had to restart a couple of times and learned from trial and error. It took me a while to figure out new components and make sure I wasn't overlapping anything and making sure everything aligned. I know it looks simple, but it did take me a while. The first time I designed this, I just made the pieces without thinking about the joints and not using enough parameters, then realized I needed to better set up my design to set up the joints. After that, I designed another version, but it just wasn't forming right since I incorporated the components wrong. I finally got it in the end, but then it started to become overconstarined, and there were still minor details that needed fixing before I could print. I am now currently waiting for the Laser Cut until tomorrow, since when I went today, there was a problem with the arrangement tool, so it will be cut soon and come to life.

In this step, I exported my design file from Fusion into a .dxf format and brought it into Adobe Illustrator. From there, I prepared the file for the laser cutter. This process involved some trial and error. At first, I accidentally missed a line, which required me to recut a few pieces until everything came out correctly.

In this step, I began assembling the pieces, which I originally thought would be easy since I designed all of the joints to be the same size. However, once the pieces were cut, I realized that I had accidentally left out a few joints in my design. For some reason, I hadn’t noticed they were missing before sending the file to the laser cutter. When I tried to press-fit the joints I did have, they didn’t fit properly, so I had to sand them down until they slid together, which ended up working pretty well. For the joints that were missing, I had to use super glue, which was a little disappointing since my original goal was to have the entire piece held together only by the plywood joints.

Even so, I’m happy with how the organizer turned out. If I had more time, I would go back and fix the joints to make sure they all fit perfectly, and I’d also like to experiment with engraving designs in Illustrator. For now, I just added a sticker, but in the future, I’d love to paint it or engrave the word "Tea" directly onto the box or some floral designs on the side. Overall, I’m excited to use it in my everyday life, and my pantry already feels so much more organized without random tea bags scattered everywhere.

Skylar Tibbits's Things Fall Together, especially the chapters "Less Is Smart" and "Reverse, Reuse, Recycle," became a major source of inspiration for my press-fit, laser-cut tea bag holder design. Tibbits challenges the myth that intelligence relates to complexity or dependence on technology, focusing on simplicity and utilizing the basic characteristics of materials.

In order to maintain the design's functionality, light weight, and low impact, I decided to use press-fit joints, which snap together without the need for glue or screws, and paper, a simple and sustainable material. The Reverse, Reuse, Recycle concept was another big influence: the holder can be disassembled and recycled if needed, instead of ending up as waste. Overall, by leaning into material intelligence and reusability, my goal was to create something for storage which was simple yt very useful. I did not want to be wasteful with this project, and I knew I needed to find a problem I had and use this project as an opportunity to find and create a solution.

I became aware that I was drawing heavily on the concepts offered in the readings, especially Print Green and The Domestication of Plastic, when I was creating my tea holder. I found myself thinking about the materials I was using in my design Process after our readings. I liked how we were limited to press-fit plywood instead of acrylic because it's recyclable, lightweight, and easy to cut with minimal waste. I also considered the Davis reading on plastics, which discussed how plastic has become prevalent in daily life, even when it isn't required. It's so cool that we can create from just one material. I think it shows that you can still create something useful, organized, and durable without leaning on the “default” material choices. Although I still feel like this was very challenging to accomplish, and gave me a lot of respect for designers out there. I started looking at all the objects around me and began to wonder about the design process. Right now, I am just staring at my mechanical pencil in awe, just thinking about the steps it took to design this technology that millions of people use every day.