How do I engrave on multiple items with the correct focus?

[kristycockrell]

I have cut out flat ornaments, painted them white, and now want to engrave on it. I’ve been doing it one at time, but know there has to be an easier way to do 30 at time without having to focus in on one ornament at a time to get the right focus so I’m placing the engraving directly in the center. Anyone know how I do this?

[dwardio]

Welcome to the community!

If they are all the same height/thickness, no worries, the focus will work for all items. If they are different, there’s no way to accommodate varying focus in a single job.

[kristycockrell]

They are all the same width & height. When I tried it with 3 though, the one in the middle was perfect be the two on the side of it were off.

[shop]

do you mean you’re having issues aligning the ornaments to get the spacing down?

i’d suggest painting the board white before cutting/engraving. then you don’t have to try to align perfectly later.

[jeanneleigh]

Or cut out a jig so you can align the design on the ornaments without relying on the camera

[kristycockrell]

I was watching a video about making a jig but it was confusing me! do you have a simple way to make one?

[dwardio]

@shop

i’d suggest painting the board white before cutting/engraving. then you don’t have to try to align perfectly later.

^^^ this is the best approach, IMO. I do this for painted ornaments every year.

As for jigs, the basic idea is that you cut the outlines from a piece of flat material (cheap plywood, draftboard, or even plain old cardboard) with the same designs as your pieces to be engraved, then without moving it, place your pieces in it and then engrave the pieces.

Here’s a good write up:

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 ‘…

Good Luck!

[deirdrebeth]

@dwardio

cut the outlines from a piece of flat material

If you have the piece of wood you originally cut them out of, that’s guaranteed to be a good start of a jig for you!

[shop]

only if you didn’t move it after you cut the pieces out.

[deirdrebeth]

or if you put it back in and have the layout of the cut saved in your files - you only need to line up 1 and then the rest are right (ask me how I know!)

[shop]

that works too, but it’s still a fallback. I’d probably take a piece of cardboard and cut the outlines quickly, then put the pieces in the cardboard jig. that way you don’t have to hope you have them lined up.