Hi all, a quick question please. I’m creating a frame for an item that is longer than the limits of my laser etcher so I’m creating several sections which I will join together with dovetail joints to make the joint stronger. When I cut out two sections as per the first drawing the fit is obviously not that tight as there is no kerf offset. The question is, presumably adding a a kerf offset won’t make any difference as the kerf will be applied to both the male and female sections of the joint. Is the solution to create a separate part of the object as per in green in the second drawing and just apply the kerf to that or is there a simpler way to do this only it’s quite a complex frame so would take quite a bit of time to change every joint?
Just apply a positive kerf offset. This shows the results of positive kerf. Exagerated for clarity.
This is a negative kerf offset.
See the docs for clarification.
Note that Kerf Offset has a restriction:
This feature only works with shapes that are closed.
The left and right ends of those figures are open, so they have no “inside”.
You can apply an Offset to selected non-closed shapes, which might get you most of the way to the goal, at the cost of having to touch each joint manually.
Oh thanks, that’s brilliant, I’ll give that a go
Thank you, the shapes are closed but they’re just very long and thin so I couldn’t show the whole thing
Hi Paul, seems like you might be using the wrong tool for the job. If you are looking to make something longer than your workspace take a look at the “print and cut” feature. I frequently use it to make things longer than the laser can do in one go.
It can be a little (ok, quite) fiddly, but with care it’s very accurate - sometimes undetectable, sometimes taking a little sanding.
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Print and Cut for pass thru (long items) video.
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Hi Tony, it seems I’m only scratching the surface of Lightburn, there’s so much useful stuff in there, I’ll definitely take a look at that!
Thank you Mike
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