Looking for a laser cut box generator? SchoolCAD can make a finger joint box for laser cutting in your browser, for free: set the width, depth, height and material thickness, and every finger works itself out again. Then download a DXF laid out on your laser's sheet size. There's nothing to install and no account to make, which suits a class of students as much as it suits you.
Unlike a one-off box generator website, the box is a real CAD model. Students can add a lid, dividers, a hole for a cable or an engraved name, and see how the joints are made.
The quickest way: open the Laser-cut box sample
- Go to schoolcad.app, click Documents and choose Open a copy under the Laser-cut box sample.
- Look at the Parameters list on the left:
W,D,Handtare the width, depth, height and sheet thickness. - Change any of them and press Enter. Every panel and every finger joint is rebuilt to the new size.
- Or pick a ready-made size from the Configuration list at the top of Parameters, such as Pencil box or Desk tidy.
Tip
Set t to the thickness your sheets really measure, not the label. 3 mm plywood and acrylic often measure a little more or less, and a few tenths of a millimetre changes how tightly the fingers fit.
Make your own finger joint box
If you'd rather design the box from scratch (or teach students to), model each panel as a board, overlapping where the corners meet, then let the Joint tool cut the fingers:
- Model the panels full size so they overlap at the corners.
- Click one panel, Shift-click the panel it meets, then click Joint (or press J).
- Choose Finger. Set the number of Fingers (an odd number looks best) and the Clearance.
- Check the preview and click ✓. Repeat for each corner.
A finger joint shares the overlap out as fingers, so the box keeps the outside size you drew. If you've modelled every panel with the corners overlapping, the design Check lists each overlap with a Make a joint button, so nothing gets missed.
Finger joint clearance for the laser
The laser burns away a thin line of material as it cuts (the kerf), so fingers drawn exactly to size end up loose. Set the Joint tool's Clearance to about 0.1–0.2 mm so the joints still fit after cutting. Do a test corner on an offcut before cutting a whole class set, as every laser and material is a little different.
Download the DXF for your laser cutter
- Click Export, then Laser cut file (DXF).
- Choose your laser's bed size in Sheet (600 × 400, 900 × 600, 1200 × 600, 1200 × 900 mm, A4, A3 or a custom size).
- Tick Turn parts to fit to squeeze more panels onto each sheet, and set the Gap between parts.
- Click Download DXF and open it in your laser cutter's software.
Cut lines are red, on the CUT layer. The sheet outline is on a separate SHEET-DO-NOT-CUT layer: delete it if your laser software tries to cut it.
Ideas for extending the project
- Engrave a name or logo: sketch on the lid, use Text or Insert image to trace a logo, then extrude it as a shallow cut.
- Add dividers: model a divider across the box and use a Halving or Housing joint where it meets the sides.
- Change the material: set each panel's material (plywood, MDF, acrylic) so the cut list, costs and renders are right.
- Show it off: make a photo-real render in the Render Studio or an exploded view for the folio.
More help
- Laser cut file (DXF) and Joint
- Parameters and configurations
- Forum guide: How to make a DXF file for laser cutting
Try it now at schoolcad.app. It's free for every student.