Laser Cut Bowl in Cardboard and Wood.

Wow, a very easy way to make an impressive bowl!

Create the Bowl Art

Using Autodesk 123D MAKE on an iPhone, I created a profile shape that was rotated around an axis. The application "made" plans in a PDF file that I emailed to myself.

Put All the Bowl Pieces Into One Illustrator File

The PDF file was multiple 8.5" x 11" pages (hint I opened it in Acrobat Pro and saved it as Encapsulated PostScript file>SaveAs>MoreOptions>EncapusulatedPostScript - this created multiple files). I opened each file in Illustrator and copied the bowl pieces onto one large illustrator page - 24" x 18" which is the largest size the lasercutter I use can handle.

Cut It Out on Cardboard

ah, the smell of burning cardboard!

Assemble Cardboard Bowl

Putting the pieces together is a bit tricky, like a 3D puzzle... I put some dabs of glue (clear drying) to help keep things together. The finished bowl looks quite impressive!

Try It in Wood (with a Few Tweaks)

Important! - The original bowl pieces are sized for the width of cardboard. When cutting on a different material, the material's thickness must be taken into consideration. I used wood that is 3/16" (or .1875 in). I modified a copy of my illustrator file by first drawing a red square that is 3/16" x 3/16" (.1875 in x .1875 in) and then locked it - so it would not change size with all other elements. Then I selected all of the bowl pieces and sized them until the interlocking parts were the same size as the red square (see illustration).

Put It All Together!

A bit tricky to put together. The sizing of the parts is snug. I did not need glue to keep it together. It looks great. I've already given one as a gift and I had fun explaining how I made it at TechShop in Menlo Park!