DESIGN: Preparing You

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: Micha

We’ve all been there, we bought or downloaded a “laser ready” file and had to spend inordinate amounts of time fixing it to make it ready for the laser. As a fileseller, it is very important to me that my files are ready for any laser. Since I have used a Glowforge, GweikeCloud, Atomstack Diode laser, K40, and a 100-Watt Chinese laser, I have had experience with a wide variety of lasers and I have a technique for preparing my files for any of them.

There are several things that you’ll have to keep in mind to prepare your files. The vast majority of lasers use either Lightburn, CorelDraw, K40 Whisperer, proprietary software, or online software to control the laser. The first thing you’ll have to consider is what file type to use. Diode lasers are mostly for engraving bitmaps, so we will not include them in this list of accepted vector filetypes.

Vector Filetypes

K40 Whisperer: SVG and DXF

Lightburn: AI, SVG, DXF

CorelDraw: Dozens including AI, SVG, DXF, PDF

Glowforge: SVG, PDF

GweikeCloud: SVG, PDF

What we can see from this list is that SVG is accepted by all lasers and should be your first priority when creating files. My experience says, however, that CorelDraw users have issues with SVG files that have had offsets in them, so I suggest providing a couple of other options as well like PDF and DXF.

Almost all or all lasers separate vector files by color Everything that you want cut is created in one color, everything scored is another, and everything engraved is another Here’s a summary

Color SchemesK40 Whisperer: Red is cut, blue is score, and black is engrave.

Lightburn: Separates by colors and then you decide what each color does.