This product is designed to organize the pile of tea bags in our kitchen. I knew I would be producing at least 20 units, so I incorporated several design elements such as living hinges, deep engraving, and kerf compensation to ensure that my solution was efficient to manufacture and easy to assemble. 

 

Intent on prioritizing ease of manufacture and assembly I used the laser cutter, which is well suited for the intended geometry, rather than 3D printing a bunch of boxes. Each element was prototyped with test cuts before I cut all 20 in an efficient batch process.  

 

I used living hinges on one piece of material for all 4 outer walls resulting in an assembly with only 3 pieces and pleasing aesthetics. This side piece incorporated deep-engraved channels for the clear acrylic front to slide along. Designing this part as a sheet metal component in CAD allowed me to unfold and cut the flat pattern I needed.

 

To eliminate glue, I made sure any connection joints fit with friction alone by compensating for the kerf of the laser to get a snug fit every time.