Flower Mandala Lamp

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The idea is to create a flower mandala style ceiling lamp in plywood using some CAD software and a laser cutter.

Steps:

1º Bill of Materials

2º Concept art idea and Designing

3º Cutting

4º Assembly

5º Final thoughts

1.1 Wood

For all pieces I've used plywood 5mm, the color is up to you but for my case is "Okoumé" plywood.

As i'll explain on the following steps, i've used 2 boards of 1000x600x5 mm (around 8€ ) from leroymerlin

1.2 cord set

It's just that a simple cord set from IKEA around 3€ IKEA cord set

1.3 Glue

I've used contact glue, i recommend transparent glue for better result, or white glue for wood.

Any hardware store will sell it.

1.4 Access to a Laser Cutter

This is the most difficult tool, but there are lots of fablabs around the world with this kind of tools available for public use under a small symbolic price. https://www.fablabs.io/labs

1.5 A computer and some CAD software

I've used fusion 360.

1.6 (Optional) K-Line

For prototyping you might use cardboard or K-line sheets to test your product.

2.1 In quick google search or in pinterest (use with caution, you might lose some hours on this! ) you can have an idea on what to make, so my concept was this mandala structure that looks like a flower... lamp.

2.2 I've used Fusion 360 cad software to design the 3D pieces, in overall it's just 3 pieces top, bottom and petal.

With 5mm material board in mind the structure was designed with 8 petals that are all the same.

In attachement the 3 .dxf pieces for editing.

3.1 The software in this laser cutter is RDWorksV8 it's simple to use, of course there are some tricks, but in general you must set the board size, in this case 1000x600 space, you should distribute evenly all the pieces, set the laser (depending on material) to 12mm/s and 100%power to achieve a clean burnt cut.

In attachment the .rld layout ready to cut.

It takes around 40 minutes to complete all 10 pieces.

*General settings might change with different laser cutters.

4.1 After cutting LET THE PIECES outside for 2 days so the smell of burnt plywood goes away.

4.2 Clean the burnt edges with a wet cloth (or sand it if you want)

4.3 Test it out and glue it all together. Remember to leave one petal a bit loose so you can insert the cord head, note the lamp easily goes between any petals after assembly.

5.1 It looks really good

5.2 It's easy to make, it took more time to create this instructable... but well it's my first.

Share your thoughts! let me know if i forgot something!