tl;dr: I made a set of nesting apple boxes because I needed to learn how to use the new laser cutters at my workshop!
You’ve probably heard that famous quote before:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person with access to a laser cutter will first make a box.
Elizabeth Bennet
Seriously though, if there is a project most people tackle when they first get to play with a laser cutter, it’s definitely a box! And who could blame them? Everybody knows what a box should look like, what it’s supposed to do, it can be infinitely customized – and there’s plenty of laser-cut boxes generators out there!
So when it was time to get acquainted with the new laser cutters at work, I turned to boxes too! At first I thought of remaking one of my old builds – this tight-tolerance, no-glue cube I designed and cut when I first got hired.
![](https://thirtythreedown.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/no_glue_cube-edited.jpg)
And then Tested put out a video about something I had never heard of: apple boxes!
This looked fun! Why not give that a try? Even though these boxes weren’t using joinery like the tight-tolerance tube, they were a fun design challenge because of the nesting…And I needed something to hold my smartphone while filming for Take and Make projects and equipment tutorials. Miniature apple boxes would be perfect for that so I started Fusion360, and whipped a little something together!
Obviously it’s a relatively simple design project, so cutting and engraving didn’t take long.
![Laser cut and laser engraved plywood pieces on laser cutting vector grid.](https://thirtythreedown.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/apple-boxes-3-1024x768.jpg)
I had some doubts about using 1/4″ plywood and wood glue without relying on joinery for this project, but it worked out! All I had to do was sand the laser cut edges clean so that the burn residue wouldn’t interfere with the wood glue. And it made these plywood edges pop!
![Assembled and nested apple boxes on white surface.](https://thirtythreedown.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/apple-boxes-7-1024x771.jpg)
After that it’s a simple finish: paper towels or a rag and danish oil until the wood doesn’t absorb any more and you are good to go. And they’re doing a great job helping me film in places I couldn’t with my smartphone.
![Apple boxes arranged in a pattern on a wood table.](https://thirtythreedown.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/apple-boxes-2-1024x768.jpg)
Feel free to make your own! The files for laser cutting are available on GitHub, optimized for laser cutters with color mapping. I also threw in an export of the Fusion 360 model. Enjoy!