Cutting clock hands and measurements

Good morning!! I am relatively new to Lightburn and was curious on how I could get exact measurements on the grid. I am trying to cut some clock hands out of thin Basswood and need to cut the holes for the hands to the exact diameter that will fit the clock mechanism. Thank you!!

Not quite following you. The measurements on the grid are exact. You can see the dimensions of each shape in Numeric Edits Toolbar when the object is selected. You can similarly use the measurement tool to check measurements of individual segments and other attributes.

In general, if you’re looking to burn dimensionally accurate parts you’d need to:

  1. Make sure your axes are calibrated for motion. For example, 100 mm movement in software results in 100 mm at the laser.
  2. Measure the kerf of the cut on the material you’ll be using and then account for that kerf in your design, either by changing the size of the object or using kerf adjustment in Cut settings

Instead of the holistic approach you could just do this through trial and error:

  1. Design a hole in the size you expect it
  2. Burn to test material
  3. Measure or test fit
  4. Adjust design
  5. Reburn
  6. Test fit
  7. Repeat as necessary

Thank you for the response!! I have been performing the trial and error approach but thought there might be an easier way. I guess I’m making things more complicated than they have to be.

If you want to do this repeatedly and reliably then I’d encourage you to spend some time to check for calibration and tune axes if required. Then run a kerf test to figure out the kerf size of your cut. Use half the kerf as adjustment in your cut setting.

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