London Tourist Attraction Gift Box
Instruction
As a test run of my new XTool S1, I wanted to do a moderately easy project that would cut and score. Since I work in London, I thought of why not cut out different popular tourist attractions into a box. I had seen similar designs online and in gift shops. This would help me in creating a box (which is a good first project), as well as try the 'outline' option on the layers. I decided to create a semi-3D effect by having 3 different layers, each showing different London landscapes.
I also wanted to do engraving but decided against pushing my novice skills too far. That would probably be the next iteration. A full build video: https://youtu.be/9d-Xx2MQY-I
I used cuttle.xyz to create a box that will enclose the 3 different layers of the London landscape. The measurements were 20cm wide, 16cm tall and 4 cm deep. I also added 3 notches on the left and right side. The layers will slot into this. Refer to the Outer Box.svg file attached
I went to Etsy and bought an SVG file for the more popular London Landmarks. You could do the same and either buy or design your own landscapes. Then bring it into XCS and resize it.
- For the empty spaces in each layers, I used the Shape option and drew curved rectangles to remove the bulk.
- Around the landscapes, I used the Outline option at 2mm width
- Then using the Combine function, I made the cut lines (black in the XCS)
I used another offcut of 3.6mm thick hardwood plywood, and tried Score/Engraved/Cut a sample Grid board. This is to get a baseline on the settings to use. I then added these settings as custom presets
For my test case (this is subjective, so please do your own tests), I found the following:
- Cut: 100% Power, 20 mm/s Speed, Pass 2. (I later reduced the speed. If it doesn't cut, an easy way to ensure it does, is to just run another pass)
- Score: 78% Power, 228 mm/s Speed
The uploaded demo XCS file has 2 canvases. I have optimised it to run on 2 Canvas. The layers are colour-coded:
- Black to CUT
- Green to Score
You can change the setting on the right-hand side if you want to.
Then just glue all the joints in & your London Box is ready.
Watch the video for an introduction & on how I went about making the box. Hope that it helps, thanks.