Ear saver (a space-saving shape, for laser cutter)

Our own design for an ear-saver that we can cut at the lasercutter, in an efficient way and without wasting much material.
The shape of this device can fill optimally the space of the plastic sheet (since the opposite sides are complementary - see the photos as an example). In the provided files, you can find SVG for 1 piece, 2 and 3 pieces already combined, and also an SVG for "adding" one more piece (i.e. with one side missing, to avoid overlapping lines. Some laser cutters software can eliminate these automatically). Other formats are also provided for the basic file (DXF and PDF).

We used polypropylene sheets (1mm of thickness), that we can buy in pieces of 100x100cm or 35x50cm and this design allows a very efficient use of the plastic.

ICTP is the acronym of our institute, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, and we are the staff of the institute's fablab.

If you found this useful, please make more pieces and share them with others!

Thanks, Enjoy!