Engraving spoons and macaroons

[isabellaruiz17]

I am trying to engrave the word little helper on the inside of a wooden spoon (it is concave) and I will be engraving designs onto some macaroon cookies. Whenever I test print on scrap wooden spoons the wording is off to the left, I know that my glowforge is callibrated but have seen some people and glowforge taking about the snapmark option and a jig. I do not have the snapmark option and have no idea how to fix this. When I go to print on the cookies I think I have to do the same snapmark and jig so it does not print off (they are not perfectly flat). Would love some help!

[caribis2]

You do not need snapmarks and the company has stopped enabling them anyway.

You will need a jig. Anyone can use a jig. Once you understand the concept they are really easy. This recent thread has all of the links in it you should need to get you going. Once you have read all of the links from it feel free to post any specific questions.

Wooden Spoons and Alignment

I have been trying to print on the back of spoons and not sure what is going on. On the screen it looks perfectly aligned on the spoon but when I go to print it is going further to the right. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

[deirdrebeth]

This one might help too:

How to get focus correct when printing on multiple objects on bed?

If you are trying to print on multiple oddly shaped objects, the best technique is to create a jig for it. (The Snapmarks require adjustment for varying heights as well.) To do that, you would place several fork outlines in a design, the same size as the forks, and give them a cut line. Then you place the engraving for the forks onto the file aligned with the cuts. Something simple like this works extremely well: [jig] When you bring the SVG file into the Glowforge Interface, you will cut …

[isabellaruiz17]

Is there a way to do it without digital calipers?

[caribis2]

For wooden spoons and macaroons, yes. You will need a ruler though.

The point of the jig is to tell you where to put your object (spoon, cookie). For these types of objects you do not need scientific precision. You need better than what you can get with just the lid camera, but not sub-millimeter.

The basic concept is to make a file with at least two things in it. The first is a shape that your object will fit into. The second is what you want to engrave on your object. A key item here is that the artboard of the file needs to be 20" wide and 12" tall. If you are using Inkscape this would be found under File->Document Properties.

Next you place your jig material in the glowforge and make sure it won’t move (holddown pins are good for this.) By not move, we mean if you bump it, it will stay in place. Cardboard is a common jig material because it is cheap. Corrugated cardboard is also very flammable, but a cardboard fire can be put out with a damp dishrag. It doesn’t happen very often, but if you use it have a damp dishrag handy just in case.

At this point you can move the combination of object-shape and engrave around in the GFUI. Once you click Print you may no longer move anything in the GFUI without starting over.

Set your engrave to Ignore and cut out the shape of your object. Remove it from the jig material.

Place your object in the jig.

Set your cut to ignore and engrave your object. If the engrave does not look like it is centered on your object don’t worry. As long as your artboard is 12x20, and you didn’t move the jig, you can ignore the preview. Engrave as many objects as you want. Once you move the jig you need to make a new jig.

Just to reiterate, while it may be nice to have a spoon-shaped object for your jig, a rectangle as wide as the spoon and as long as the spoon will work for your purposes. For the macaroons make a circle a little bigger than the macaroons and just make sure you place them in the middle of the circle.