I Have to create a part 2020mm long by 75mm wide on my Laser with an 750x500 bed. Material 260g stiff paper.
So I have to cut 3 pieces 673.3 x 75mm. I am locking at a methode to make these 3 parts connectable. First thing that comes to mind to create a kind of puzzle piece connector on the short ends…
At the moment this is a paper sample, later it will be a 2mm+ thick material
The thought for the finished product is to connect the parts and to apply some tape to the back.
With dark material that should be a fairly invisible seam if everything is dialed in. I am sure many have been at that point and I am eager to learn how others have mastered this little challenge and what kind of genius solution they came up with.
This might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__saOKVupA
And instead of making the cut object a straight line, you could put those puzzle piece connectors on it to easily reconnect the parts.
Thanks for your quick reply. I am well aware of this function shown in the video. But its not feasible in my case.
I dont have the means for precise indexing (no thru lense red dot).
Also it does make much more sense to cut all three pieces out of one piece material. The bedsize of 500x700 allows for that. No handling of pass through, line up etc, much better yield and faster.
I also want to create a file I can, after everything is fine-tuned, easily recut without extra setups etc.
My question is really about the best possible shape of the to be connected 75mm long edges so it easily aligns in final assembly and is not overly complicated to create for this but also for similar xtra long shapes with different dimensions.
I’ve used simple V shaped teeth to line up mating parts, like this:
I’ve done large pieces like this by doing it twice (or more), gluing them together as multiple layers, and putting the seams in a different place on each copy, like this:
One last thing - For Print & Cut, you can just use the beam pulse to do final alignment with the targets. It’s not as clean as the red-dot, but it would be just as accurate if not more so.
Hi Oz
Thanks for your suggestions. I will certainly try that. I though about using a pulse point for alignment for larger projects where the sum of all parts would not fit onto one sheet.
My thoughts about working with such a “connection shape”:
Create that shape and save it as a lbrn file.
Group it.
Import it into my actuel projekt. There I could dynamically change the overall size of the “connector
shape” and apply it.
Is there an easy way to cut a shape (closed patz. i.e a rectangle) into two parts?
Right now I am applying a line crossing the shape, make a copy and use on part by eliminating the other. Ideal would be to have that crossing line as a dividing line, leaving 2 separate open paths that then can be moved and finished by applying the imported connecting shape.
I don’t expect this functionality to exist in Lightburn at this time. Just want to make sure not to overlooking something as I am still along my learning curve with this marvelous piece of software.
Keep up the great work!
I feel like you missed half the video linked above.
The new ‘Cut Shapes’ tool does exactly this. It’s designed for cutting up shapes (and whole projects). If the shape being cut is open or run in Line mode, the Cut Shapes tool will cut the shapes and leave them as open lines. If the shape is closed and set to fill, the Cut Shapes tool will produce a result that is also closed.
I made a 1.3M RC sail box for my Dad - cut dogbones out of the box parts and separately cut the fillets to ensure a snug fit. Glued, sanded, painted, you couldn’t tell.
I’m slowly prepping another video for the Print & Cut feature, showing how to use it with only a front door, and no pass-through, to do a design in two halves. It’s similar to the pass-through version.
