Laser Cutting, Tolerance and the Myth of Precision
Digital drawings suggest certainty. Lines align, measurements resolve, and forms appear stable. Laser cutting quickly undermines that confidence.
This stage of the project focused on translating digital join designs into physical components through laser cutting, with the explicit aim of testing tolerance, alignment and assembly. What emerged was not refinement, but friction — and that friction proved essential.
When Drawings Meet Material
The designs developed in Illustrator were prepared for laser cutting as multi-part components intended to be assembled into small modular units. On screen, the joins appeared clean and confident. In material, they became conditional.
Even minor variations in material thickness affected alignment. Kerf width altered dimensions just enough to compromise tight fits. Corners that felt robust in vector form revealed fragility once cut. These discrepancies were not errors in execution; they were inherent to the process. Laser cutting does not deliver precision in isolation. It delivers repeatability within limits.
Assembly as a Test of Intelligence
Assembling the cut components was the first real test of whether the joins had been thought through structurally. Some designs locked together as intended. Others resisted assembly entirely, exposing weaknesses in geometry or tolerance that had not been apparent in drawing.
The introduction of magnets amplified these issues. Magnetic force is unforgiving of misalignment. A fraction of a millimetre was enough to cause repulsion where attraction was expected, or to create rotational instability within the joint.
This stage made it clear that designing magnetic joins requires anticipating not only how parts connect, but how they fail.
Adjusting the System
Rather than attempting to “fix” individual designs, I treated this stage as an opportunity to understand patterns of failure. Certain geometries consistently resisted assembly. Others tolerated variation and remained stable.
Digital files were revised repeatedly, not to perfect fit, but to build in forgiveness. Clearances were adjusted, contact points simplified, and unnecessary complexity removed. Some designs were abandoned entirely. This was not loss. It was clarification.
The Problem With Precision
The process revealed a fundamental misconception embedded in digital design: that precision equates to strength. In reality, overly precise joins are often brittle. They rely on ideal conditions that rarely exist in material practice.
By contrast, joins that allowed for slight movement and variation proved more resilient. They accommodated the realities of cutting, handling and repeated assembly without losing structural integrity. This understanding directly challenged earlier assumptions and reshaped the direction of subsequent designs. This ultimately led to the consideration of a nut and bolt system to explore alongside the magnetic system.
What This Stage Established
Laser cutting transformed drawing from a speculative act into a measurable one. It introduced physical resistance, forcing the project to confront the gap between intention and outcome.
This stage contributed:
a clearer understanding of tolerance as a design tool
insight into how magnetic force interacts with geometry
a rejection of false precision in favour of structural resilience
a refined approach to join complexity and simplicity
consideration of an alternative join system using a screw and nut system with laser cut shape used as the screw ‘head’.
Most importantly, it established assembly as a critical moment of evaluation rather than a final step.
Setting Up the Next Phase
The outcomes of this stage made it clear that successful joinery could not be resolved through cutting alone. The next phase required a different level of control — one where surface, thickness and internal structure could be shaped more deliberately. This shifted the project toward mould-making and casting, where tolerance could be negotiated differently and joins could be tested under new conditions of weight and finish.
Laser cutting had done its job. It exposed the limits of digital certainty and forced the work to become materially honest.