I created some all metal backpack charms for my bride to give to her students. With the included clasps, they can attach them to their backpack zippers as constant inspiration.
Step 1: Design
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Setting 1
Process Method
Vector Laser Engrave
Power(%) or Cut Pressure(g)
100
Speed(mm/s)
100
Lines per cm
260
The design is simple, but I had to start with measuring the metal tag and drawing it up in xTool Creative Space. I included the hole so that I could make sure to avoid it with any design elements. i set the tag design on the red layer and set those elements to “ignore” so they would not process.
For the front, I wanted the message to be bold, and resemble a smiley face. So I used the “Be The” as an allusion to eyes and nose, then used the curved text feature to resemble a smiling mouth. These I put on the blue layer
For the back, I opened another tab and copied the tag objects to the new tab. I then used the curved text feature to make the school name surround the date. I ended up doing the 3 words of the school name as separate objects so make sure the layout worked.
Step 2
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I used the “L” bracket to help me align the tag. Once I got it turned the way I wanted it, I used a black sharpie to mark the hole. That way I can easily add the next tag and align the hole correctly.
I used the “outline” framing feature to make sure everything was correct for the first one. once I got the design framed onto the tag correctly, I started the processing. Up to this point, I used about 10minutes of my time. The laser time per face was 1 minute and 31 seconds.
I had 100 tags to process total. After the first one, I replaced the tag with a new one, making sure to align the hole to the sharpie mark, the double-clicked the knob to start engraving. I repeated this for all 100 tags. Once I had all the fronts laserd I repeated the process of framing the back face, then re-ran all 100 tags to engrave the backs.
Step 3
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Once all the laser work was finished I could assemble the charms.
The charms consist of 4 parts:
Metal Tag
Key Ring
Globe Charm
Swivel Lanyard Clips
First, I put the tag and the clasp onto the key ring.
Then, i made sure to orient the globe correctly and placed it onto the key ring so that it did not cover the front message.
The design is simple, but I had to start with measuring the metal tag and drawing it up in xTool Creative Space. I included the hole so that I could make sure to avoid it with any design elements. i set the tag design on the red layer and set those elements to “ignore” so they would not process.
For the front, I wanted the message to be bold, and resemble a smiley face. So I used the “Be The” as an allusion to eyes and nose, then used the curved text feature to resemble a smiling mouth. These I put on the blue layer
For the back, I opened another tab and copied the tag objects to the new tab. I then used the curved text feature to make the school name surround the date. I ended up doing the 3 words of the school name as separate objects so make sure the layout worked.
I used the “L” bracket to help me align the tag. Once I got it turned the way I wanted it, I used a black sharpie to mark the hole. That way I can easily add the next tag and align the hole correctly.
I used the “outline” framing feature to make sure everything was correct for the first one. once I got the design framed onto the tag correctly, I started the processing. Up to this point, I used about 10minutes of my time. The laser time per face was 1 minute and 31 seconds.
I had 100 tags to process total. After the first one, I replaced the tag with a new one, making sure to align the hole to the sharpie mark, the double-clicked the knob to start engraving. I repeated this for all 100 tags. Once I had all the fronts laserd I repeated the process of framing the back face, then re-ran all 100 tags to engrave the backs.
Once all the laser work was finished I could assemble the charms.
The charms consist of 4 parts:
First, I put the tag and the clasp onto the key ring.
Then, i made sure to orient the globe correctly and placed it onto the key ring so that it did not cover the front message.