Personalized Refrigerator Magnets
Instruction
Displaying our children's artwork on the refrigerator is a joy, and it's even more delightful with a customized magnet to hold their creations. This simple project is set up for your laser cutter, and this guide may inspire you to add a personal twist to the design.
The first task is to add in the included artwork. This simple image of a kitten reading a book is the majority of the magnet design. The character was created using Microsoft Designer.
Once imported into XCS I apply a black and white bitmap filter and adjust the grayscale to get good contrast. I also take the time to go ahead and se up the engrave power and speed settings.
Next I add in text. This could be a phrase or a name. Select the font that looks best and adjust the size to match the image.
Don't worry a whole lot about getting the overall dimensions just right. We will set those once the entire design is complete.
Lastly, select both the image and text. Hold down Shift while clicking on each element. With both selected, then click the outline tool. This will pop up a slider that allows you to increase or decrease the padding for the outline. I like to adjust this up a little to ensure the outline of the text connects with the outline of the image.
If the outline does not fully connect or has holes, you can draw a rectangle over that area and use the combine tool to fill it in.
With the outline in place, I like to now take the time to select all and resize the entire design so that it is appropriate for the application. For example, we are making a refrigerator magnet, so an overall height of about 3 inches should be enough
With the design complete, lets click on each element and ensure the engrave settings are appropriate for the laser. Next select the outline and set up appropriate cut settings.
The included file have settings for the D1 with a 5W laser, but you may need to adjust these settings for your laser.
Be sure to follow all the safe guidelines for your laser and wear the appropriate personal protective equipment.
I have found that a piece of magnetic tape is sufficient for the design, however I needed to use super glue to ensure the tape stuck to the wood surface.