Craft Stick Plant Markers: Print-and-Cut Alignment

With the text laid out in the template, start LightBurn’s Print-and-Cut Wizard to align the template with the fixture on the laser platform.

Jog the laser to the upper-right target on the fixture, click the upper-right target in the template, and tell P-n-C that’s the First Target. Jog to the lower-left target, click the lower left target, and that’s the Second P-n-C Target:

Craft Stick Markers - fixture target detail
Craft Stick Markers – fixture target detail

The colored circles indicate the targets on the template:

Craft Stick Markers - LB PnC layout
Craft Stick Markers – LB PnC layout

Select the Align No Scaling option, because the template and the fixture are exactly the same size.

Click-n-drag to select the entire template (because you should always use Cut Selected Graphics), then frame it Just To Be Sure. The red dot pointer (or whatever you use) should kiss the fixture’s perimeter all the way around.

Make sure the fill layer happens before the cut layer, then Release The Laser:

Craft Stick Markers - engraving
Craft Stick Markers – engraving

The cut layer trims around the engraved letters to leave them standing in the rectangle:

Craft Stick Markers - cutting
Craft Stick Markers – cutting

Some of the smaller bits won’t fall out as they’re cut, but a sharp thwack ejects them easily enough.

Producing a set of ten sticks takes maybe seven minutes:

Craft Stick Markers - fixture second fill
Craft Stick Markers – fixture second fill

Because craft sticks aren’t intended for fine woodworking, don’t expect consistent engraving results:

Craft Stick Markers - wood engraving difference
Craft Stick Markers – wood engraving difference

Applying a finish would definitely improve their appearance, but most such chemicals don’t belong in an organic vegetable garden.

I poked the first few test sticks along the edge of the herb garden:

Craft Stick Markers - test sticks installed
Craft Stick Markers – test sticks installed

The rest will be deployed as their eponymous plants go in, then we’ll see how long they survive out there in the real world.

They’re kinda cute and definitely improved my fixture / template skillz.

7 thoughts on “Craft Stick Plant Markers: Print-and-Cut Alignment

  1. Putting some cutting board oil on them ought to help protect them from the elements a bit, and likely wouldn’t violate the sanctity of an organic garden.

  2. Very nice! I threw the 4K camera in my AF2028-60 and it “accurate enough” for my work.

    1. The part I had to work my way through was making the red dot accurate enough to locate the targets on the platform. I’m still not happy with it, but it’s close enough and probably as good as a beam combiner when the focus is just right.

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