Aligning Large Material Even/Level/Square Engraving

[deeve (Dave)]

Hello,

My wife and I made a 12" x 24" sign for a family friend. The sign was the typical type where you cut the letters out and attach them to a backer board. It was suggested that I lightly engrave the outline of the letter on the backer to make assembly easier. It was a challenge to get it all lined up before engraving. Even after setting it up and quadruple checking the engraved lettering still was skewed about 1/8 to 3/16 from level.

Are there any tips to get the material aligned and square when doing things like this? Is there a better way to place letters?

[Stroonzo (Jeff)]

This is how I square a work piece to my machine:

1/4” (7mm) Poplar Cutting at 1.25” (32mm) per Second

And for very precise alignment (when and if needed):

New user, tricks for double side engraving with lightburn?

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Laser position on round piece of wood

I have what I would claim as being the most perfectly calibrated and dead on accurate camera calibration possible. The camera is absolutely a go to for most positioning. However, if and when dead on zero tolerance alignment is critical, I still fall back on spoil board method. Recently I created a design where the first step in the creation was to mill the 1” thick oak and some of the lettering on the CNC router. From there, the next step was the laser fill the lettering cut outs. This had t…

[deeve (Dave)]

Some great ideas! Thank you!