Wooden Steampunk Themed Keys 3D Laser Engraved and Cut

I have seen a lot of faux typewriter keys on Etsy where my wife and I have a shop. These faux keys look really good, but a lot of them are paper printed on an inkjet printer and glued to a round piece of wood. The way they are printed gives the impression that they are 3D but really are not.

I wanted to learn how to utilize the 3D setting on our laser cutter, I have seen examples of Damask and Floral patterns rastered in 3D. So I decided to give it a try. The results are very impressive. 

Step 1 Create Circle Template

 First step is to create a simple key template that will act as the foundation for all additional steps. For whatever reason I picked 21mm as the diameter of the circle. Remember the diameter is the distance from one side to the other through the middle point, and the radius is half of the distance from the middle to the outside of a circle.

Make sure that the circle has an outline width of hairline if using CorelDraw so it will be cut out on the laser.

Comments

[Fox-san48]

i wish i had a 3d printer lol,
very nice instructable :D