Interlocking Shelves

Hello everyone,

Today we're bringing you a simple yet beautiful shelves design that has been cut with plywood. Stick to the end and enjoy reading :D

This tutorial was written by Abdullah Al-Dar and was made in FABLAB Dhahran

Step 1: Requirements

The requirements to make this project are as follows:

• 1x sheet of 13mm plywood
• CNC Machine (bed size of 2x1 meter)
• Wood Glue (we used Elmer's)
• Sanding Papers (200 & 400 grits work wonderfully)
• 7mm Square Endmill
• Cleaning Cloth
• Wood Varnish

NOTE:Cutting & assembling time of this project is less than 1 hour. Also, always wear safety equipment when you're cutting with the CNC machine!

Step 2: Design

The initial design was made using Blender as a simple half sphere and then shrunk down to make the depth of shelf pockets less. Then the design was brought to 123D Make to slice the model as interlocked slices.

NOTE: If you wish to use different wood thicknesses or tool diameter then you can edit the 123D Make file to suit your setup.

Step 3: Cutting & Finishing

• Just load the design (.crv) and cut the design. This is for VCarve software
• If you wish to use another program then you can use either .svg or .pdf files.
• After cutting the design, sand the pieces especially the edges.
• Start with 200 grit and if you wish to make the finish even better, you can use 400 grit.
• Clean the pieces with a damp cloth and let them dry out.
• Apply your preferred coating of varnish. Typically, you'll want to coat your shelves with at least two layers of coating to preserve the wood.

Step 4: Assembly & Final Thoughts

• It is easy to figure out how the pieces fit together but if you're having any difficulty you can check the 123D Make file which has an animated step-by-step video which shows how the parts fit together. Download 123D Make for free directly from their website.
• Add a little glue in the intersections if you think you will never have to disassemble the shelves in the future. Otherwise, the shelves should hold tight together and won't need any gluing.
• Admire your creation!

This sums up this tutorial and I hope you liked it. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Also, if you made something similar then by all means, show us your creation. We love to see what you guys come up with!