Need Help - Want to Set Pieces in Engraved Area

[osmith]

First off, sorry for the weird title. I really wasn’t sure how to word it.

Anyways, I am trying to make a word acrylic sign for a friend. The word is engraved into the acrylic and then I have it cut out in a different colored acrylic. I want to be able to set the cut out letters/word into the engraved part. Right now it just settles over it.

I’ve tried to scale the engraved design to be bigger but I’m just not getting it right. I don’t want to waste anymore so I figured I’d see if anyone has done this & can give me advice.

[ekla]

Hi there, I’m afraid that I don’t quite understand your question. Are you able to post pics of what you’re trying to achieve?

[dklgood]

If you want the cut out portion to be flush with the other part rather than “settle over it”, you will need to cut it out rather than engrave. What you describe is an inlay. In the sign, cut out the word you want in a different color. Cut the same word out of the other color of acrylic and place it into the void. You may need to slightly englarge the second cut segment to get a tight fit.

[osmith]

Hi, I will try in the morning before I leave for work if possible.

[osmith]

We have done an inlay with another design and I love that but that is not exactly what I am going for. I don’t need the cut out design to completely settle into the engraved part like an inlay. Honestly, I probably need to just fiddle around with it more on the sizing to get it how I want

[bill.m.davis]

I think I did something similar to what you are describing.

I engraved on wood and inset cut/engraved colored acrylic into the engraved areas.

It just took trial and error to get the depth and size right. It would be different depending on the type of material being inset into.

[deirdrebeth]

Even though you’re going for a floating look rather than a full inset, I think this may help getting you that perfect fit into your engrave:

Improving kerf adjustment on complex shapes

This is an inkscape-specific thing, but may apply elsewhere. Kerf adjustment is well-trod territory at this point, but I recently decided to see if there was anything to improve performance. The issue: when doing a “stroke-to-path” action on an irregular shape, you can sometimes see deformation of the resulting paths. The solution: add more nodes. The software is making a best-guess estimate, which you can improve with extra nodes. Illustrated: On the left, the original shape. On the righ…