Flatpack CNC Furniture

A custom, friction-fit furniture set - which disassembles into flat, stackable pieces for compact storage.

This Project was developed for PCC Cascade's Paragon Art Gallery, which required a furniture set for a single exhibit.

The criteria for the furniture was that it:

• include 12 stools, 2 large tables, and 1 coffee table.
• be made out of 1/2” plywood
• be easily dis/assemblable for compact storage and repeated use
• complement the aesthetic of the exhibit artist

The tools used for this project were Fusion 360 for design and a Shopbot DesktopMax CNC Router for Fabrication (courtesy of PCC’s Cascade Fab Lab)

It took a bit of experimentation to determine the ideal slot dimensions to achieve a friction fit that held the pieces together, without being permanent. The best solution was to make the top slots tighter than the bottom slots, so they fit tightly but the force required to seperate them was less.

Special thanks to Darcy Neal, PCC STEAM Coordinator, for helping with the final production run, ensuring all 12 stools were complete in time for the exhibit.

Design Files are not provided as kerf values for friction fitting will vary depending on the machine and material properties. The design is fairly simple, and part dimensions were largely determined by the maximum machinable area of the CNC router bed (2'x3').