Mother's Day Engraved Wooden Gift Box with Heart Keychain and Letter Plaque
Instruction
Craft a beautifully wooden box with engraving, perfect for Mother's Day 🌸💖
The box will feature intricate floral designs 🌺 and a heartfelt message engraved.
As a special touch, the project also includes a letter plaque and a keychain.
The combination of natural plywood and precise engraving will result in a unique and personalized gift that any mother would cherish.
The project will cover the selection of xTool's premium plywood, the settings in xTool Creative Space, the laser engraving process, and assembling to ensure a high-quality and aesthetically pleasing final product for your mom. 🌷
Begin by selecting a suitable plywood for your Mother's Day gift. I crafted two boxes, one with 3mm Birch Plywood and the other with 3mm Basswood. Use the plywood you like. Ensure the plywood is smooth and free of any imperfections.
Painting (Optional): If desired, you can paint the plywood either before or after cutting to add color and enhance the design. If you paint it before, allow the paint to dry completely before moving on to the next step.
Tip: If you paint it before, set the engraving to lower power (or higher speed) so that it won't burn the wood, allowing the light wood color to come through. Most times, you need to run two to three passes for the engraving for optimal results. Making a test is recommended.
Prepare Your Laser Cutter: Carefully place the wood on the cutting bed, ensuring it is securely positioned.
Load the Design File: Load the design file into xTool Creative Space and adjust the settings for optimal processing with your machine and according to the wood you use. The kerf offset for the red lines is set to the usual value.
Refer to the Design File for Guidance on the Different Line Colors:
- Blue and Cyan lines: Indicate where the laser will cut.
- Red lines: Indicate where the laser will cut with kerf offset. Please set it to the right value for your machine and material/wood you use. See https://support.xtool.com/article/1425.
- Orange: For scoring
- Purple: For engraving.
- Black: Ignored by the laser.
Ensure Proper Alignment: Make sure the design is aligned correctly to fit your chosen wood piece. Execute the cut with precision, following safety guidelines to avoid any mishaps.
Post-Cutting-Engraving: Once the cutting and engraving is complete, remove the parts from the laser cutter and inspect the pieces.
Take the two side parts "E+E1" and the keychain "I" and place them back in your machine to engrave the back. Once done, go to xTool Creative Space and align the designs "J+J1" for the sides, and "I1" for the keychain on your parts. Set your settings and start to engrave. Afterwards, when done, remove the parts from your machine and inspect them. If everything is fine, move to the next step.
Parts Overview: See the image with the parts overview for help. The parts are marked there ;)
Now that you have everything cut and engraved, we're going to assemble the keychain "I" first.
Simply take the keychain "I" and the closing ring and assemble it with the heart keychain. You can either use one you already have or purchase them locally or online.
Great 😊 For now, you can put the keychain and the letter plaque away.
Let's move on to the next step: assembling the lid-helper on the left and right sides of the box.
So, now that you're still here 😊 we're going to assemble the lid-helper on the box sides.
Take the lid-helper "G+G1" and glue them exactly over the score lines of the box sides "E+E1". I used a strong glue for this. Let the glue dry properly.
Once done, we can move to the next step: assembling the front.
In this step, we're going to assemble the lid-closer with the front.
Take "C", "D" and "F+F1". Using a strong glue is recommended here.
First, assemble "D" with "F+F1", then assemble this with "C". Glue it properly, then remove any overlapping glue and let the glue dry.
In the next step, we'll be assembling the box 🎉
Finally, in this step, we're going to assemble the complete box.
Take your parts "A", "B", "C", "E+E1".
Arrange them properly to see where the parts are going. Then put glue on the parts where they come together.
The best approach is to assemble the front "C" and the sides "E+E1" first. Afterwards, take "A" and attach it to the assembled parts. Ensure everything is properly assembled and remove any overlapping glue. Let the glue dry before you try to close the lid. 😉
Now, with your finished gift box, take a fine canvas cloth and place it inside the gift box. Then put the letter plaque "H" and the keychain "I" into it.
I hope you enjoyed and liked this project 😊
If you need any more help or have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Happy crafting and have a wonderful Mother's Day! 💖🌸