How to Make Your Own Custom Wood Lettering

Instructions on how to laser cut your own letters for a menu board, or anything else that might need letters. I made these at Techshop (www.techshop.ws) and used wood, but other materials like acrylic, MDF, paper, and chipboard can also be used.

Step 1: Measure and Cut Your Material

1. Cut wood (or whatever material you are using) to appropriate size for laser cutter (18" x 24" maximum at TechShop SF)

Step 2:

Create files in Illustrator, on artboards that are the same size as your wood. Apply appropriate stroke settings for laser cutting and etching. For the machine I was using, strokes had to be .001pt for cutting.

Step 3: Start Cutting

Put in your material, and prep the laser cutter. Set appropriate focus distance, and adjust the home point if needed. Enter the correct settings in the print dialog box for your material, and start lasering. (If you take the Laser Cutter class at TechShop, they will cover all of this)

Step 4: Punch Out Letters

Once cutting is complete, carefully remove your pieces, and punch out all the letters.

Step 5: Layout the Letters

Space out letters on the board you will be using, and affix adhesive, and press onto the board. In this case, I used removable Glue Dots. If you are using a metal surface, you can use magnets.