Freestanding Name Plates

Free Laser Designs
1

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.

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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

83 Likes
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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!

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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Very helpful…thanks for sharing.

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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?

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Thank you!

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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!