Laser-Cut Window Shelf - Design Walkthrough
My Nerdy Nordic wife wanted more shelf space for her plants and asked about a shelf in the window. This was a perfect excuse to fire up Fusion 360 and the Glowforge. The design I came up with was a simple shelf with minimal supports for looks and mounting options. The biggest issue to solve was that the span of the shelf, at 880mm, was going to be outside the capability of the Glowforge cutting area of 279mm X 495mm. I've dealt with this before and incorporated puzzle-pieced panels to achieve the required span.
The top and bottom panels are identical and made up of left and right pieces that fit together with puzzle-piece tabs.
The front and back panels are identical and made up of 3 pieces. This will stagger the interfaces of these panels from the interfacing of the pieces that make up the top and bottom panels. The left and right pieces are identical and all 3 fit together with a simple puzzle-piece tab design. Rectangular tabs interlock with the top and bottom panels.
To increase the strength, I included an inner panel. Just like the front and back panels, the inner panel is made up of 3 pieces. However, the middle piece is longer so that the interfacing of the 3 pieces do not overlap the interfaces of the front and back panels nor the top and bottom panels.
Finally, the side panels are to tie everything together and provide a way to secure the shelf to the wall. I included a couple of screw holes. For decorative purposes, I added support panels to match the curves of the side panel. They were not needed for strength.
Everything fit together nicely.
The first step with laser cutting something that needs to fit perfectly is to cut the parts out of cardboard. Cardboard is cheaper than plywood.
It took a couple of iterations of the top/bottom panel to get the right size.
Now for the full cardboard mockup. It fits perfectly and has the strength with just the tape to do the job, but it likely will not look as good as a clean painted plywood version.
Now I cut the 5mm plywood.
Everything is held together with blue painters tape and wood glue.
A 20lb weight is used to press the top and bottom panels into the vertical panels.
Spackle is used to hide the interfaces and tabs.
Sanding it out gives us a nice smooth shelf ready for painting and installing.
Just like the cardboard mockup, the finished shelf fits perfectly.
Add plants, and this project is done!
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