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.
Where xTool Studio keeps it
On the cut layer, per shape. The switch is called Tab generation, and under it sit Tab size, Number of tabs, Tab spacing and Tab cut power. Studio edits them on one shape at a time, so select the outline you mean rather than the whole design.
Set the cut power for a bridge below your cutting power rather than to zero: a bridge that is scored instead of skipped snaps cleanly and leaves less of a nub to sand.
If your software will not leave them
Break the outline yourself before you export: cut the line into segments with a gap of about 0.5 mm every 30 to 50 mm, and put the gaps on straight edges rather than corners, where a nub is harder to sand away.
MakerWizard does not add bridges. It exports the cut layer as you drew it, so the gaps belong in the drawing, or they come from Studio or LightBurn.
The half that is not about bridges
- Burn the inside details before the outline. Once the outline is through, the piece is loose, and anything still to do on it lands in the wrong place.
- Hold the sheet flat with magnets or low-tack tape at the corners, away from the cut lines.
- A warped sheet lifts in the middle and drifts out of focus. Weight it down, or break it into smaller pieces first.
- On very small pieces, turn the air assist down for the last pass if your machine lets you.