Accuracy and Alignment issues

[Jules]

@lordyork79

We’ve even seen where someone said they wrote the word “Glowforge” on a grain of rice and I really doubt that was achieved by figuring how far it missed naturally and then clicking down three times and right three times (which is approximately what we’re having to do).

Chuckle! Actually that’s exactly what I did. (One click up and one left.)

Jigs are the way to go for something like engraving on coasters and cheese boards, boxes or whatnot…things that already exist without having to cut them out. You basically create a file that has your engrave design in it, with the design placed inside of a shaped hole the same size as the object that you want to engrave on.

Then you cut the hole out of a piece of cardboard or something, drop the coaster into the hole, and engrave it. Take that coaster out. Drop another coaster in and engrave it. Etc, etc, etc. As long as you do not let the jig shift, everything you drop into the hole will be perfectly aligned. But the secret is, the hole shape and the design have to start out in the same file, in order for the alignment to remain correct relative to each other.

There are a couple of tutorials that describe how to do it:

Glowforge Interface - How to Align a Double Sided Engrave

I’m going to demo an alignment process below using my (ancient) version of Adobe Illustrator, but the process is the same for Inkscape or CorelDraw or Affinity Designer. Whichever one you like to use, you’ll do the same things, with the tools in that program. (I’m also going to give you the thought process that goes into creating a design with 2D Design software, to keep from having to write another one up, so if you can slog through it, you’ll pick up some stuff you need to know to make thing…

Tutorial - Batch Production With a Jig

A number of people have mentioned their intent to use the glowforge for repeated creation of a design. I am currently in the process of doing that for some wedding invites, so I figured I would show you guys how im going about it, as you might find it helpful in your own exploits. This is going to be long winded, so be prepared. Lets get started Some good friends of mine are getting married. They are both graphic designers and wanted some cool invites, and I happen to have a laser… so I said ‘…

And of course, once the Snapmarks are enabled for everyone, you’ll find it even easier.