Programming

The Tale of How One Programmer Coded His Chipboard Furniture in PHP

A programmer frustrated with existing furniture design software creates his own PHP library that generates OpenSCAD models for chipboard furniture, using an HTML/CSS-like approach to panel placement. The article showcases real projects including a desk-shelf combo, a Frankenstein workstation, and a kitchen table with built-in stools.

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

The author tells the story of his long journey toward creating his own furniture. Initially, he bought ready-made panels and shelves from stores, but later realized this limited his creative possibilities. He decided to look for furniture design software and settled on "Astra Furniture Constructor," but it didn't satisfy him.

The Path to OpenSCAD

In parallel with furniture work, the author was working with a 3D printer and started using OpenSCAD — a program for creating 3D models through code. He liked the approach where "everything is built on numbers" and parameters are easy to change. However, over time the code became complex and tangled.

"As long as you're immersed in it — everything's simple. But leave the project for a couple of months..."

OpenSCAD had limitations, especially with layers and element grouping.

PHP.SCAD

The author decided to create his own library in PHP that generates OpenSCAD files. He chose PHP over Python because "indentation is just text formatting," not part of the syntax.

For convenience, he set up VSCode with the "F5 Anything" plugin so that pressing F5 would execute the script and OpenSCAD would automatically reload the results.

PHP.MEBEL.SCAD

The author rethought the approach to furniture design. Instead of placing individual panels with coordinates and rotations, he applied an HTML/CSS layout principle:

Chipboard furniture in 99% of cases consists of rectangular prisms
Functions used: wall_top(), wall_bottom(), wall_left(), wall_right(), wall_front(), wall_back()
Panels "snap" to sides, automatically shrinking the interior space
Panel dimensions are calculated automatically

Basic example:

$box = box(500, 800, 600);
$box = wall_top($box, "Furniture: %W");
$box = wall_bottom($box, "Furniture: %W");
$box = wall_left($box, "Furniture: %W");
$box = wall_right($box, "Furniture: %W");
render_scad();

The library automatically:

Selects edge banding locations (marks missing ones in red)
Splits space into parts (split_vertical(), split_horizontal(), split_depth())
Adds padding via padding()
Exports a CSV parts list for cutting