Questions answered
Laser questions, answered straight
The questions makers ask in the groups, answered by someone who cuts on the same kind of machine. Numbers where there are numbers, and “we do not do that yet” where that is the truth.
Files
Why does my SVG open at the wrong size in xTool Studio?
An SVG carries no physical size unless the file states one. When it does not, the importer assumes a resolution, and the two common assumptions, 72 and 96 DPI, differ by a third: a 100 mm design arrives as 75 mm or as 133 mm. Fix it in the file, by giving it a width and height in millimetres and a matching viewBox.
Why does the SVG from ChatGPT not work on my laser?
A language model writes an SVG the way it writes a sentence: as text, guessing coordinates. What comes out usually has no physical size, no separation between what should be cut and what should be engraved, shapes that do not close, and sometimes a photo embedded inside the file. It is a picture of a drawing, not a drawing a machine can follow.
How do I set cut, score and engrave layers in one file?
Laser software decides what to do with a shape from its colour, not from its name. The common convention is a red hairline for cut, a blue hairline for score, and a black fill for engrave. Give every shape one of those three, keep strokes hairline-thin, and one file arrives in the machine as three separate operations you can order and price.
Why does my text disappear when I import the file?
Live text in a file is not a shape: it is a reference to a font, plus the characters. When the laser software does not have that font, it substitutes another or drops the text entirely. Converting text to outlines turns each letter into a path, so what you saw is what arrives, on any computer and any machine.
Cutting
Why do the insides of letters fall out when I cut?
The middle of an O, an A or a 4 is its own closed outline. A cutting laser follows every closed outline it is given, so that middle is cut free and falls out of the sheet, exactly like a keychain hole. Nothing is wrong with the file: a stencil needs bridges, or the lettering needs to be engraved rather than cut.
My small pieces shift or drop through mid-cut. How do I hold them?
A piece comes loose the moment its outline closes, and the air assist or the fan then moves it before the job ends. Leave bridges: short gaps in the cut line that keep the piece attached to the sheet until you snap it out. xTool Studio makes them for you, and the other half of the answer is order, because inside details must be burned before the outline.
What is kerf, and how do I measure mine?
Kerf is the width of material the beam removes, so a cut piece comes out smaller than it was drawn and a cut hole comes out larger. To measure it, cut one square of a known size, measure the piece with callipers, and subtract: a 20 mm square that measures 19.85 mm has a kerf of 0.15 mm. It changes with material, thickness and speed.
How wide should a slot be for a press fit?
Draw the slot narrower than the material by exactly one kerf. On a 3 mm sheet with a 0.15 mm kerf, draw 2.85 mm: the beam takes the missing 0.15 mm away and the slot comes out at 3.00 mm, which is a press fit. For a loose fit that still glues well, draw the slot 0.1 mm wider than the sheet instead.
Why did my design fall apart when I cut it?
A piece falls apart for one of two reasons. Either a part is joined to the body by a neck too thin to survive handling, under about 1 mm in plywood, or the part is not joined at all and the cut simply frees it. Both are in the drawing before anything is burnt, and both are visible without cutting anything.
Engraving
Why does my photo engrave as one black blob?
A laser has no grey. At a given power it either burns a spot or it does not, so a photo full of mid-tones comes out as a dark mass. The picture has to be turned into something two-toned first, dots or lines whose size and spacing carry the tone, prepared at the exact size and resolution you will burn it at.
How do I get a single line instead of a double outline?
An ordinary tracer follows the boundary between dark and light, and a drawn line has two boundaries, so every stroke comes back as a long thin loop: the double outline. Centerline tracing, also called single-stroke or skeleton tracing, follows the middle of the stroke instead and returns one line, which is what a score or a pen plotter needs.
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