dimensions

We have been cutting mostly round key chains. Our smallest one with good definition is about 35mm diameter and the largest one 60mm. The sweet spot is 45mm for most of us.

• length or diameter: 35-60mm

• chain hole diameter: 3mm

• hole from edge: 1.3-1.6mm

Choosing Stock Material

On our veneer plywood, this allows us to design for two colors. The black fields in our design will be cut away by the laser, leaving the underlying color of the plywood. The empty sections will be left alone, leaving a raised area with the surface color intact. If you choose the light colored basswood, this gives you a light relief on dark background. The walnut and cheery plywood give you a dark relief on a lighter background.

If you choose acrylic, you may have to play with the settings and materials to get a good design. Typically, on opaque material will offer more contrast for a keychain. The engraving will be a light etching on the colored field. Remember to wash your design after the cut so that you can see the resolution. You may also want to color your engraving after the cut using a paint marker or other permanent marker.

Prepare your image

This is not an Inkscape tutorial, but here are some quick tips that will lead to better results when you import an SVG to xTool.

• Text to path: xTool won't see your font. Select your text and choose Path: Object to Path.

• Combine paths: use the union and combine options in the path tools as much as possible. Sometimes a shape with no fill in Inkscape will be a filled shape in xTool.

• Strokes vs. shapes: A thick stroke (the outline/border of a shape) in Inkscape is still just a path for xTool. If you want the full width of the stroke to be engraved, use Path:  Stroke to Path before importing. If it's for a cut, just note it will cut the center of the path, we usually visualize this with a very light stroke width.

• Check for duplicates: Duplicate paths can cause the laser to process the same line twice. Before exporting, make sure you haven't accidentally stacked copies of the same object.

• No clips: sorry, Inkscape clips are just for display and don't alter the underlying geometries. You'll see all the clipped paths in xTool.

• Difference & exclusion: instead, use the path tools (difference, exclusion, union, etc) to get just the paths you want.

• Photos/rasters: you are in luck! xTool can engrave photos and has a number of nice algorithms for engraving your raster art directly.

• Colors for different passes: The xTool doesn't see color, but you can use them to separate cuts (holes), engraving, and etching; and to set the laser to different speed and power. In our examples we use red to indicate holes, black for the front engraving, and green for the back engraving.

• Check your size: xTool occasionally has its own ideas about how big your SVG should be. Always check the width and height after importing.

You may have to make a few round trips between Inkscape and xTool Studio before you are ready to run your cut.

Upload your image

• Save your image as an SVG.

• Create a new project in xTool Studio

• Upload the image

• Check the dimension so that it wasn't rescaled

• Check each layer to make sure the paths are as you expect (sometimes xTool fills in shapes that you expect to be just strokes)

• return to Inkscape to fix any mistakes. you may need to convert to paths, and or combine/cut paths

Configure your cut and engraving

• choose the appropriate material from xTools material library

• refresh the xTool camera image to see the bed

• use the "close shot" for the area you will place your cut

• drag your image to the area you wish to cut (near the edge or other cuts, but with enough room that you don't connect)

• use "aimed measure" to get the exact thickness of the material where you plan to cut

Laser Settings

We used these settings successfully on our dark and light plywood tests.

• engrave: power 30%, speed 300

• cut: power 60%, speed 25