Laser Cut Treasure Chest 5mm Plywood with Clasp and Hinges

Loved the original design by Sean Flanagan, and Ryan McGeary, so I resized it for 5mm plywood. I also took out the duplicate pieces and redistributed them for 12.5" x 8.5" sheets. My chinese k40 laser has an official cut area of 300mm x 200mm but this size sheet works great, and is easy to cut from a 8' x 4' sheet. I also attached the cut sheet, and if you follow that you can make 8 boxes (with a little cheating on the scrap pieces).

Laser settings are different for all lasers, but my 40W CO2 laser was set at 40% and 400 mm/s for the engraving, and 40% and 5 mm/s for the cutting (single pass). Programs used are Gimp, Inkscape and k40 Whisperer.

The 5mm hobby plywood I got from Lowes ($16) and they will make the 12 cuts for you ($0.25ea). So each gift box could run you $2.50 in material.

Tips: Use a scalpel to help with the places where the laser didn't quite cut deep enough. Assemble the entire clasp, and hinge before gluing them to the box. I used a discarded pin from a pop-rivet which is easy to cut to length, and fits perfectly.

The final assembled size is: 11.25" x 8.25" x 6.25"

It took me about one and a half hours to engrave/cut, and another hour to assemble. The fit is super tight, so you can assemble without glue if you want. I used a little hobby hammer to gentle nudge the pieces together.

Ask me any questions you want - but use online converters for different file formats, and find your own pictures and art, since I am not going to distribute those :)

Enjoy.