Customized Toy ruler
Instruction
Although a simple item, a toy ruler can contribute to imaginative play. Customizations can add personality and ownership to the ruler which can easily be completed with your xTool laser engraver. You can start with your own wood ruler, or start from scratch like I will show in this project.
As i mentioned in the introduction, you could start this project with a wooden ruler purchased from the store, but you may not have one and want to start from scratch. I will be using basswood plywood that is 1/8 inch thick for this project.
First, let's insert a rectangle for the outline of the ruler. My sheet material is only 11.8x11.8, so i'll keep this under 12 inches, but that is ok. The markings will be accurate, they just won't go up to a full foot, which is fine for a toy.
This next part is a little tricky. We want to make the ruler as accurate as we can. I thought a good way to approach this is to use the array tool. This tool will allow us to duplicate the markings for the ruler and place them at even spacing. Unfortunately, this is edge to edge spacing and not center to center from each item. This is not a bad thing, but something you should know before starting. Even though this won't position the parts exactly where I needed them, I thought it would be good to get them close, and then I can come back and adjust as needed.
To get started, draw a rectangle to engrave the first mark. You can make these as thick as you want, but i have made mine .08 inches (knowing the thickness will be helpful later.)
Once you have the rectangle sized like you want it, click it and then select the array grid tool. You will want one row and 10 columns. I set the spacing to .94 inches.
Now use the ruler at the top of the canvas to help align. I used the X value of each object to set them to .96 relative to each mark. Since my mark is .08 inches, this means the mark is centered at 2 inches if the mark X value is 1.96. I then used this to set each mark exactly on center.
Next, I added numbers by simply adding a text object for each marking. Size and choose the font you like.
Copy the outline of the ruler and paste it on a new canvas. This will be a guide to add any designs you would like for the back of the ruler. I have added a name and simple image of a hand saw for decoration.
These settings are for the D1 with a 5W laser. Please adjust setting so that they are appropriate for your laser configuration.