How to split an SVG file into multiple segments to fit the print bed

I’m really not sure how to even explain what I’m trying to do, but here goes…

I am very new to working with vector art, but I made a street map in Illustrator that has multiple layers and a finished size of 24x36. Some layers will be engraved, and others cut out. The bed on my laser is only 12x19 so the overall map/layers will need to be cut/split into several smaller pieces in order to fit the laser bed, then reassembled and glued together once all cut out and engraved.

I can’t figure out how to do that though. I’ve tried only exporting the artboard, but even though it crops everything out except the artboard in Illustrator, when you bring it into Lightburn, it’s the entire map, not just the section that was on the artboard. I’m sure it’s a simple procedure, I am just not knowledgeable enough with the software to figure it out. Can anyone help me out with the answer?

Have you tried creating multiple 12 x 19 artboards butted together - with the map spanning across all of them? Then export/save each artboard individually.

Another possible solution that might work is to cover a 12 x 19 artboard with a rectangular mask to block out the the parts you don’t want before exporting.

Not sure either of these will work for you, but you can give it a try.

When I export the art board from Illustrator, even though I check the box to only export the art board, the actual file contains the entire map once imported into Lightburn. It seems that Illustrator is only “hiding” what’s outside the art board when inside the program, but doesn’t actually remove it. I need to remove what’s outside the art board on each segment, but retain the paths and layers. There has to be a way to do it.

Many of the art editing tools will use a “mask” to present only what you define and this can be very confusing as the unwanted items are still there as you said. I might suggest you bring the entire map into LightBurn and use the ‘Boolean’ tools provided in LB to split your work into appropriate sizes for the laser bed.

Here is a video demo of how the Boolean tools can be leveraged t achieve various looks.

We also recently added the new Print & Cut feature that you might want to look into as well for “Larger than the bed” cutting.

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