But First, What is Welding?

Welding is the process of making overlapping elements (like fonts or shapes) into one element. For example, the top text below is not welded while the bottom text is.

Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs - Glowforge - madewithforge.com

Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs

Unfortunately, if you don’t weld your text, shapes, or anything else that is overlapping, it becomes obvious when engraved or cut on the Sculpfun. Take a look at the images below.

This image is an example of an engrave into wood on the Sculpfun. In the unwelded version, you can see how the tiny, overlapping edge pieces don’t engrave nicely.

Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs - Glowforge - madewithforge.com

This example shows both a welded and unwelded cut. Unfortunately, the unwelded cut will not stay together as one word when the masking is removed.

Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs - Glowforge - madewithforge.com

How Do You Weld?

If you are using Silhouette Studio, it’s easy. Select all the pieces that you want to make one (hold down the SHIFT key while clicking to select multiple elements), right click, and select ‘Weld’. After welding, any loose pieces will be able to be moved (bad news). To prevent this, quickly group them (‘Object’, then ‘Group’).

Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs - Glowforge - madewithforge.com
Why You Must Weld When Creating Laser Cut Designs - Glowforge - madewithforge.com

It’s important to note that once you weld a font it becomes a shape. This means that you can no longer edit the text as a font. Personally, I like to make a note of the font I used in each design so after I weld and come back to it a few days later I don’t forget.

 

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