Freestanding Name Plates

I threw together these little freestanding name plates this morning and thought I’d share. Ostensibly, I made them to put in front of the groups of presents for each of my kids under the tree on Christmas, but really I did it because I could and I haven’t had time to play with the Glowforge for a while. :slight_smile:

The base and post are made of Basswood Plywood for strength while the name plate is Basswood Hardwood because I like the way it engraves better.

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I started with Fusion 360 and modeled the 3 pieces that I had in mind. Even though I haven’t spent any time on it in months I was still able to knock this out in 20-30 minutes. From there I used the incredibly handy “Save DXF for Laaser” plugin to generate DXF files that I imported into Illustrator. Once I had them in Illustrator, I added the offset score line near the edge and the names.

I think I probably have 90 minutes in this project from end to end, including a test print and posting this message. Enjoy!

Update: It seems the forum decided to simplify my SVG the first time around. Instead of uploading it as an embedded image, I’m just going to link to a shared file on Dropbox. Sorry for the mixup

SVG File @ Dropbox

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Very nice! :grinning:

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What a good idea to identify presents. Those turned out really nice.

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Looks great - thanks for the file! I can see additional uses for this – buffet food signs, wedding table name plates, VIP signs, etc…

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These are great! Like that you scored around it also … adds a lot. Thank you so much for the file!

Way to think up reasons to make stuff! :slight_smile:

My kids still talk about the Christmas when I numbered all the gifts so nobody knew which ones were for whom. They were SO frustrated! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I like this design, it’s really different! Very generous of you to share, thank you.

any chance you could share with the etch line a different color then cut line I cant seem to separate them and it wants to cut the nice little trim instead of scoring or etching it

Oh, that’s unfortunate. it looks like the forum mangled the SVG file for some reason. Let me try linking to an external file instead to see if you have better luck: SVG File @ Dropbox

that worked great thanks so much. These will be great for prices and label boards at craft shows

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Thanks. I can’t wait for my glowforge to arrive.

I followed your suggestion this last Christmas… I put a 6 digit “code” on the tags on the christmas presents. no one had any idea who they belonged to…

I had one of my sons separate the packages into piles with the same 6 digit code in the pile. Then I told them to take their 3 letter initials…and figure out what number corresponded to the letter (adding a 0 in front of single digits).

Took them a few minutes…but one of my sons thought I had lost it and another thought I was funny. Thanks for the idea!

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Needed a quick name plate before Parent-Teacher conferences tonight. Turned out great! Thanks for sharing this.

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This is so nice. Thankyou for sharing

Very helpful…thanks for sharing.

I could see these used for party/wedding table cards too. Great share, thanks!

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I love that this was designed in F360. What did you use for kerf settings, or how did you design for kerf?

Thank you!

The plugin that I use to save a DXF for laser cutting prompts you to enter a kerf value. I don’t remember what I used here anymore, but there are a bunch of posts on the forums about finding the right kerf size that will lead you in the right direction. Good luck!