Writing Station
Writing Station
This is a box to hold my letter writing supplies. It was designed to hold Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton paper in A5 and the corresponding envelopes to match. In addition to the paper and envelopes, there is a small storage compartment for sealing wax sticks. The bottom of the box has removable inserts to size small storage boxes for whatever other accessories you may have. In mine I have some corner punches, tea light candles (for melting wax), a wax stamp, and small tea light powered wax melting stove shaped like a deer.
File Contents:
All svg files were created using Inkscape. They are designed for use with a Glowforge Laser Cutter (ref link).
WritingStation.svg - the design file. Contains all pieces of the design in different layers. Pieces are laid out roughly how they should go together. By default, only the plate layer is shown. Use this file to guide your assembly steps and in case you need to modify the design for your own needs.
Note: WritingStation_Cut*.svg files have had sides merged and pieces nested together to minimize material waste and laser time. It’s only recommended to modify the engravings in these files. If you need to modify the design, use WritingStation.svg and recreate the cut files.
WritingStation_Cut1.svg - Sides of boxes, Bottom Box side rails. Note: sides are mirrored and nested to allow continual wood grain when the boxes are put together. But the pieces need to be kept together to achieve the effect.
WritingStation_Cut2.svg - Front and back of boxes, Bottom box front and back rails, middle box center piece and bottom piece.
WritingStation_Cut3.svg - Other bottom box pieces, bottom box inserts (colored differently in case you want to ignore or replace them with your own custom sized ones
WritingStation_Cut4.svg - Contains plate pieces - currently the only file with engravings. If you need to test out your engrave settings, its recommended to use some of the spare space in Cut1-3 files to test different settings prior to getting to this step. Of note: the rectangle for the plate piece is slightly shorter in the cut file than the design file (by a few hundredths of an inch). This is to allow the plate pieces to all stack vertically and remain in the glowforge cut area. I’ve found the size difference to not be noticeable on the final piece unless you explicitly look for it. But if this is something that might bother you, use the shapes from WritingStation.svg instead.
Assembly difficulty: 4/5
This design is not perfectly symmetrical as the middle box sits flush against the “rear” side of bottom and top boxes. Orientation of pieces is important when assembling so that the “feet” of the boxes stack into each other appropriately. Use WritingStation.svg as a guide on how to lay out the pieces.
Additional care should be taken when assembling to orient the magnets correctly in relation to each other. Put the magnets in the box pieces with matching poles facing toward the outside of the box (recommended to do this prior to assembling). After assembling the boxes, insert magnets into the plate such that the plate attaches to the boxes with the engraving facing outward. Finally, insert the magnets into the bars such that the engraving on the bars is shown when they are attached to the unengraved side of the plate.
Required Materials:
1/8” plywood (4 x 12x20” sheets)
6x3mm magnets