This started as a very simple box - to keep firelighters and matchbox in near a braai (barbecue) or fireplace.

But then it turned into an exercise in using OpenSCAD for laser-cutting, and for trying to automatically design comb-jointed boxes. Hopefully some others will find this useful.

The comb-joints for the box are automatically generated.

There are a couple of flags at the top of the SCAD file: see the rendered images. One makes the design 'explode' so that that parts can be seen. The other flattens the components so that a DXF / SVG can be generated and used for laser-cutting them. I've tried to structure the OpenSCAD as well as I can, but I'm new to OpenSCAD. This is possibly the last thing I'm going to do with it, as I don't think it's really suitable (I'm still trying to find good 3D CAD for laser work.)

The main item here is the OpenSCAD file. I'm interested in any discussion on OpenSCAD techniques for laser cutting, and if there are better ways to do things.

If you just want to cut a box, then there's a tidy Corel X8 file for the parts, with them labelled in text. There are also DXF and SVG, but these are straight from OpenSCAD and will need some cleanup.

The parameterisation is partially done. You'll need to re-do it to fit your firelighters and matchboxes, but that's easy and the box ought to re-size correctly. The flattened layout will need sorting though, just to re-arrange the pieces.

Licensing is a CC-by-nc-sa for the design files (you can host them on other sites, but preserve the attribution), and an unlimited licence for anything physical produced from it. If you do use it, I appreciate any feedback.

This file is NOT permitted for use by 3axis, Ameede, or any other scraper sites that do not observe the CC-by attribution requirements of licences.