I have become completely hooked on model dollhouse’s, castles, miniatures in general. So I have purchased a ton of files that are not compatible with 12x20 pieces of wood. I would love some links to people who make this stuff 
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Not sure what you are asking here. Are you wanting to convert the files you have to Glowforge dimensions? If so, I would recommend downloading Inkscape (or use Illustrator or Affinity Designer) and edit the files (I assume SVG files) to fit a 20x12 artboard. Should be a fairly simple edit job.
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I would like to make them compatible. I am very limited in illustrator knowledge but could google. I just don’t want to adjust 200 cut marks a mm bigger so I can put pieces together. I would like to find a Erwin who specializes in these designs for the glowforge I can it buy from. Or I guess even suggestions of people who specialize in making mnitures houses I can watch tutorials. But would prefer to just purchases them until I’m comfortable. This is very new to me.
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The only thing important is the thickness of the wood, not the 12 x 20 size of the material. If you buy files sized for 1/8" material, you will have no problem making the furniture on the Glowforge and having it fit together.
What thickness are the file you have purchased designed for?
You might want to check into makecnc.com. They have a bunch of miniature house designs scaled for different wood thicknesses. I made one of their HO scaled houses in 1/16” thick material and it came out really cute.
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That’s not true. I bought a file for 3mm 4mm and 6mm. But the design is so big for the wood to be sizes down to fit in the glowforge it makes those joint points to small to fit together. Some even if I size down a 6mm design to fit a 12 x 20 3mm piece of wood. They will not piece together
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OK I have purchased a bunch of different patterns and I cannot scale them down. For example this one is made for four pages so four Prince. When I go to print it I have to scale it down to 12 x 20 but when I do that your kerf lines are lines of you would put your two pieces of wood together is too small to put 3 mm would in. However I also got the 6 mm file so I tried to use that one and they were still too small for 3 mm one. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong except for going and increasing every single one of those holes so they fit. Or buy thinner wood which I tried and was not paying attention in my little 3“ x 5“ wood I bought is not gonna do nothing. However I am willing to send you the file if you can figure out how to fix it or figure out what’s wrong with it to tell me how to fix it that be awesome. And I’m definitely going to check out that house site
I think the problem is that you should not be scaling the designs at all—you should be cutting them at the sizes they are designed for. If the designs are laid out on a sheet size that is larger than the Glowforge bed size, you will have to edit the file in Inkscape (free) or Illustrator ($$$). What I would do in this case is:
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Open the file that is too large for your Glowforge.
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Create a new file in the same program, with an Artboard size (or document size) of 20” x 12”.
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Go back to the original document and copy individual pieces, go back to the other new document and paste the pieces.
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Keep doing this until you have filled the new document with enough figures to fit in an area of about 19.5” x 10.5” (the approximate printable area of a sheet). The rest of the pieces that won’t fit will have to go in another new document.
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Save the new document as an SVG or PDF. It should work in your Glowforge for whatever dimension material it was designed for.
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I don’t think you’re understanding the question. I have been buying files that I should not have to size your correct. but when I buy a file And you ask if it’s compatible with a glowforge and they tell you it is. And it’s broken into four pieces meaning for prints but the print sizes are bigger than 20 x 12 that’s a problem then it needs to be resized that’s why 20 x 12 matters over the thickness of the materials.
@cynd11 is giving you the solution for your problem. You don’t resize the parts. You just take off the pieces that don’t fit within the 12x20 and put them on a separate board. It’s kind of a pain, but it’s not terribly difficult.
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I am sorry that the files you have purchased are frustrating your efforts to creat dollhouses and furniture. When a vendor says something is Glowforge compatible they mean it is a laser file that Glowforge can use, not that it was designed specifically for the bed size of the Glowforge. Have you had a chance to make any of the miniature furniture in the Glowforge catalog? I opened one of the designes in my Glowforge and it looks like this:
If I don’t have any material that is 12 x 12, I would simply slide some of the pieces off of the bed and cut the ones I have room for on my material. The kerf and slots and tabs are not affected. I load another piece of material into my Glowforge (maybe some scraps) and I drag the pieces I haven’t cut yet out of the new material. Eventually I get all of the pieces made and I can start assembly. The only time the 12 x 20 bed size is a problem is if you are building a dollhouse that has walls or a roof too big for the Glowforge. Then you have to get creative, but for most parts you don’t have to cut them all at once on a single piece of material.
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I think that’s what happened is they advertised it for a glow Forge but the back wall there’s no way it would fit on a glow Forge unless I broke it into pieces. If I did that I think it would lose it stability. So I don’t know if I’m gonna keep it or if I am going to try to break it up or if I’m just gonna try to cut the main piece with the jigsaw. I don’t know I’m more frustrated that I emailed her and asked her if it would fit on a 12 x 20 3 mm thick piece of wood and she told me yes and it doesn’t fit
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Are there individual pieces (once cut) that are bigger than 12x20 (like maybe a wall)? If so, then, yes, that’s an issue and I would go back to the designer. Otherwise, I’m not sure how it would lose stability. You’re cutting the pieces out, so it doesn’t matter if they’re on the same board or separate boards.
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YES!!! he is in a group I follow. great designs. and very friendly I love working on his stuff
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yes some are. what makes me mad is I always ask before I purchase and I was told yes on one of them. there is no way its going to fit
I am trying this on one of my purchases. its gonna take 4 pages to like 20. ALOT of work. I need to find someone who makes them specially for glowforge
and if the piece is still to big??? she is not giving me the answer. she is giving an alternative to a file that is not bigger than 12 X 20. one of my files has a wall just slightly bigger than that
In that case, I would ask for a refund and explain that you can’t even cut one of the pieces on your machine.
If you search Etsy, there are definitely some folks making miniature files that are GF-friendly. I want to echo the above for Excited Atom Designs. Victor is an active member here and has generously shared files in the free section on more than one occasion.
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