DesignFind

Idea:

This all began with this wood canvas panel I found at Dollar Tree, it measures 12x12", with a 10.5x10.5 opening, I figure if I flipped it over and use it to create a shadow box look, an 8x8" wood map will be a manageable size for my M1. Went ahead and sketched out my ideas, this let me see a clear picture of what I would like to create, which help me to decide the approaches I need to make it happen.

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Since my main focus is the "lake", I thought that I would make a layer with the lake cut out, paint the lake area blue on a backboard, and maybe engrave some important labels and the local road on the same layer, then I will do a cut out of the major highways separately and glue it on the top to give an extra dimension. So now it is just a matter of finding the proper tools and methods to help me to achieve it.

Map Building One:

After some googling and some trial and error, I found that Snazzy Maps works best for what I have in mind. so,

1. Go to Snazzy Map (https://snazzymaps.com/)
2. Register an account, this will allow me to download the images that I created.

Map Building Two:

There are many styles of maps to choose from, but I found that for creating laser-cut files, we only need to keep them simple, black and white are sufficient enough. 

I go direct to "CREATE A STYLE", then click "APPLY STYLE", the default city shown is the area of New York.

So. by clicking the "Magnify Glass" on the upper right corner

Then, type in your location, and it will zoom in on that location.

You might need to use your cursive to move the map up or down, and maybe left or right to pinpoint the area you would like to create.

In my case, I thought that it might look interesting to include some of the main roads in the area, so I move the lake up and also to the left a bit.

Once you are satisfied with the area shown, then you can process to create your own map.

Map Building Three:

We will create one layer at a time, my plan is: Highway, local road & lake, and backing

First, Turn everything off. By:

Click on " ALL" under "FEATURES",

then " ALL" under "ELEMENTS",

then "OFF" under "STYLES"

Everything is off

Map Layer Creating:

First Layer - Water Layer

Scroll to find "Water" under "FEATURES",

then click " Geometry" under "ELEMENTS",

then select "On" under "STYLES"

then the lakes (water) appear

Then click "Custom Color" under "STYLES", and point the cursive to the lower left corner of the color swatch to turn the lake into Black

Now download the water image, choose the 1000px for the dimensions and 3x for the scale

And the PNG of the lake layer is created.

Second Layer: Local Road

Turn the water geometry off first

then go to "Road" and select "Local" and/or "Arterial",

select "Geometry" under ELEMENTS,

click "On" under STYLES

Then click "Custom Color" under "STYLES", and point the cursive to the lower left corner of the color swatch to turn all the road into Black

And download the image with 1000px and a scale of 3x

Third Layer: Highway

Turn the local road geometry off first

then go to "Road" and select "Highway"

select "Geometry" under ELEMENTS,

click "On" under STYLES

Then click "Custom Color" under "STYLES", and point the cursive to the lower left corner of the color swatch to turn all the highway into Black

And go ahead and download the image" with 1000px and a scale of 3x

Now all the maps I wanted are created and downloaded, and they are in PNG format, so we need to be vectorized them for laser cutting

Create Laser File:

There are many tools that can be used to vectorize a PNG file, I personally use Silhouette Studio most of the time. But Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator are very popular, they have similar functions.

With the "Trace" function, "Select Trace Area", and adjust the "Scale" and "Threshold" to get a desirable yellow highlight coverage (that is the preview of the trace image), then click "Trace" to create, after you confirm that the newly created vector image looks fine, then go ahead delete the original.

You might need to do some cleanup, for instance, the text at the bottom, and some really small geometries, you should go ahead and delete them. With the "Erase" tool,

and the "Point Editing" Tool, I delete all the text at the bottom and some extra lines on the top as well.

Then again, I like to color-fill it for a better visual.

Since I am planning to cut just the highway itself and glue them on the top, this should be sufficient enough for the cut. But I want to make the layer more stable to handle, so I create a square doughnut shape ring, just large enough to overlap with the edge of the highway, then center the highway image with the ring, and weld them together.

Do the same process to vectorize the "Local Road" and "Lake"

For the "Local Road", I am just going to do an engraving on the "Lake" layer, so there is no need to create a cut outline.

For the "Lake", is going to be a cutout, so I do need to create a cut outline, I drew a square with the same dimension as the highway outline, then used the "Subtract" function to cut out the lake from the square.

Color fills the result for better visuals.

Export all three layers to SVG format and ready for cutting.

**After testing out the cut, I decided to make some modifications**

1. Trim the design down a bit, so the lake is a little larger
2. Also, I feel the doughnut ring is too thick, so I trim down a little. Adjusting the size of layer 2 and 3 as well.
3. I also realized the shadow box will act as the backing, I don't really need the 3rd layer anymore, but I do like to have Lake Travis a little deeper, so instead of using thicker wood for the layer, I decided to keep layer 3, do a cutout for Lake Travis only, but do a light score for other water areas, so I can just spot paint those areas blue and not the whole board.

Here is what I ended up with:

~Lake cutout with Local Road~ ~Highway~ ~3rd Layer~

And this is what suppose to look like ??? Maybe??? Hopefully????

Laser Cutting and Engraving:

Turn on the machine and open xTool Creative Space, upload the SVG, and be ready to engrave and cut.

Due to the intricate cuts, I choose to use 1.5mm basswood for this project.

The top layer is the Highway layer, which is a cut layer, for 1.5mm basswood, I use the setting of 100/4/1 for the cut.

the result

In the second layer, I first engrave the Local Road with the set of 80/80/1,140 Lines per cm,

then on the same piece of wood, do a cutout of the lake areas, and I use 100/4/1 for the cut.

the result

In the third layer, I lightly score the water area first, then I do the Lake Travis cut out and color the scored area light blue.

the result

Before the actual assembly, I always do a dry fit to make sure that everything looks fine and fits properly.

Now I will need to paint the highway and the blue on the backing for the Lake Travis area.

Paint & Assembly

I paint blue for the lake on the baking

I was going to just paint the lake blue and leave everything else in natural wood color but made a mistake painting the blue out of the area, to cover it up, I went ahead to paint the area beyond the map gold.

Then proceed to glue the 3rd layer onto the backing, and carefully fill the lake with risin.

Then proceed to glue the rest two layers on.

I ended up giving the land area and the highway a very light color. And a darker brown for the frame border.

I went ahead and made another one, just the lake area only, and all in natural wood color, and add a label on the bottom.

I hope this how-to can inspire you to create your own map with your laser machine, please share your creation with me.