Back to School Pencil feeder with a secret storage.
Instruction
When I think of school I always remember pencils for some weird reason. I thought what better way to memorialize pencils and the fact I either never had one or had to loan one, by making this pencil holder for individuals and classrooms alike. When creating this project, Be very aware of what is set to output as this will affect your cuts on the laser.
I use a couple different box generators online to get the outside shape of the design. Once there I will make modifications to the SVG inside of XCS. The two main ones are boxes.py and makercase.com. They both work relatively the same. I prefer makerbox.
My plywood is 300mm by 300mm so I made a square to represent that on the space. This helps me layout the parts I can cut. Important: Do not put this square to output. This is just a guide to help arrange parts.
I was only able to cut 3 parts in the beginning. Once they were arranges you would want to select them and set them to output. I have put a screenshot of it so to help those that can't find it.
I did have to make a few modifications to these cuts. As you can see, the panel that will be in the front will need a slot for the pencils to come out. There is also the tray to catch the pencils. I put a separation there so it would be easier to grab the pencils. I just used squares to make the size. You can modify these in your own design if you want to accommodate bigger pencils.
The reason why I grouped these together is that in the final design they can be cut together. But, when making them I had to do them separate. Once the box was assembled, I had to get the measurement for the slope that would need to be placed inside the box in order to make the pencils feed with gravity. I could have done the calculations but it was just easier to measure and cut the square after.
Assembling the box is pretty simple. You just put together the sides and the ledge and glue it on. Once that is complete, you can put in the slope that feeds the pencils. Please make sure that the slope meets the bottom of the ledge where the pencils feed out. This leaves you with a good feed where the pencils do not get stuck. Do not glue the top on. This can be removed for refilling the box when needed.
Optional: I added a cut out to the back panel of the design. I thought of being able to put erasers of other things inside as to not loose the storage space.
Before you fill it up, you can do many things like decorate it or stain it. I think it looks good natural but really it is up to you. Once you fill it up you can enjoy your new pencil feeder.