Member tool

Lantern Insert Generator

The difference between a design and a cut file is whether every piece is still attached when the last cut finishes.

Nothing is uploaded. It runs in your browser, so your files never leave your machine.

Part of the Maker Toolkit: fourteen tools that share one shop profile and one product list, so what you set up here is already known everywhere else.

Questions

Lantern Insert Generator — common questions

Why do pieces fall out of laser cut panels?

Because a shape that is fully enclosed by cuts has nothing holding it to the frame. On a honeycomb bed it drops through mid-job and can catch fire. Every panel here is checked after it is built, and anything unattached is either tethered to the frame with the shortest strut that reaches, or removed. You are told which happened.

How thin can the material between cut-outs be?

You set the limit and the generator respects it, because the answer depends on your material. 3 mm ply tolerates thinner webs than MDF, and anything that has to be pushed into a slot needs more than something that sits in a frame. The report tells you what percentage of the panel is narrower than your threshold.

Can I put acrylic or vellum behind the cut-outs?

Yes, and the generator will cut the backing pieces for you. Each one is grown past its opening so it laps onto the frame and has something to glue to, rather than being cut to the exact opening and falling through it.

Can I cut the same design again next year?

Yes. Every panel is generated from a seed, and the same seed with the same settings rebuilds it exactly. You can copy the settings out as plain text and paste them back later.

Next in the workflow

What most makers open after this

These are not a list of everything. They are the tools this one hands off to, and they already know what you did here.

Members

Lantern Insert Generator is part of the Hub

Ten of the fourteen tools are free and stay free — everything that gets a file onto the machine correctly. The four generators and the planner are what turn a craft into a product line, and they come with the Hub.

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