Come hither, my feathery friend, before I make dinner out of you! 
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Oh my gosh that is sooooo cool!!! Having major laser-cutter-access envy right now haha. The engraved details are adorable! And the cutout on the feathers is genius! Yep, I figured the tabs were going to be a pretty loose fit. Your post seriously just made my day 
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I’m feeling the same way. You beat me to it…and that’s why you have inspired me. Time is slipping away so fast and occasionally I really stop and think about what a short time it is now until we all get our lasers. SO exciting!
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Yeah it was a significant difference in slot size. 
I superimposed the correct size (in red) over the existing one (black) It would have fallen right out…lol
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That is marvelous!
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Yikes! Yep, definitely too big haha. 
When adjusting for kerf, do you find it easiest to first start with slots the full width of the material, cut them, then measure the test cut to get your adjustment value? Or for common materials you work often with do you have a sort of ‘start point’ kerf value that you always factor into the initial design?
@Xabbess Thanks! I think one of the coolest things is seeing all of the awesome designs that were inspired by topics on this site. Tell me about it!! Like, right now- how is it already the end of October?? What happened to September- heck, even August! If I didn’t have grad school application deadlines looming ever closer I’d be very happy at how fast the arrival of our 'forges is approaching 
@dan this forum is marvelous!! I never thought I’d have the chance to find a site so inspiring, encouraging and friendly- pretty sure I never would have made the turkey otherwise.
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I record kerf measurments whenever I start working with a new material.
Easiest way is to cut a 1" square, then measure it with calipers. The difference/2 is your kerf. Most of my 1/8" woods are .006".
Always use calipers if you want a snug fit…
When doing a perpendicular fit like these, take width of material minus kerf×2. Thats the slot width.
I generally design for whatever material I plan to use.
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Awesome!! I see kerf templates in my future…and a better set of calipers haha.
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Here’s the set I recommend to my laser class students. Not too expensive ($20) and good enough precision for what we do: Amazon calipers
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Ooooooh very nice! Thanks!!
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I got mine at Harbor Freight on sale for $10…same ones as on Amazon. Pick up some extra button batteies too… it’s always a pain when you’re in the middle of measuring things and the batteries go dead and then you have to go out and get them LOL
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I have no idea why this happened, but when I went to buy one with my Prime account, it gave me a $14 promotional discount! I didn’t have to enter a code or anything.
Could it be because I just installed the Honey Firefox add-on?
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I have a Harbor Freight five minutes away from me…and I never even knew it was there until now!
@fan-of-glowforge just added the calipers to my cart and got the same discount applied! 
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Thanks! I already have a Plastic digital and a metal dial but why not have a metal digital also 
At $6 you cant beat it!
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I was so surprised, I bought two (in two separate purchases)! Apparently the discount can be applied over and over. One for the left hand and one for the right! If my toes were more talented, I’d get four. 
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I just snagged one too! Now I can keep my expensive one here at my desk and this one out in the workshop. Great find…thanks!
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I was going to stock up for my labs, but saw the discount only applies on single purchases. Good to have someone who tested if it applies multiple times. Now to go order 5, one by one…
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Woohoo! Thanks for the heads up. I’ll grab a few for class.
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I am so appreciative of you picking @smcgathyfay’s brain about the kerf adjustment thing and I have saved her reply to you. I have not done anything in regard to this kind of designing, but know I will be wanting to. Not having a laser already, I can’t wrap my head around designing for something I don’t have. I’m guessing that mindset will change in a couple more months.
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What the heck…? I just got the calipers deal, too! That’s so cool. It should happen more often…a shopping surprise like that. Thanks for the link, @jamesdhatch 
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