One of my favorite things to do is combine the power of more than one piece of equipment. When I realized how well my sublimation printer and laser cutter and engraver work together...it was a game changer.
In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make laser cut fridge magnets that are sublimated! Once you see how to combine laser cutting with sublimation the possibilities of what you can do, including making your own sublimation blanks, really opens up!
This is a pretty advanced tutorial that assumes you are familiar with designing and printing to your sublimation printer from Silhouette Studio as well as laser cutting with the xTool. I'm using the xTool P2 55w CO2 laser for these laser cut fridge magnets, but the 10w xTool M1 craft laser and 40w xTool S1 can also cut sublimation hardboard.
After you print, don't close the work area yet - we need to create the laser file as well.
Print the sublimation transfer to your printer - I'm using my Sawgrass SG1000 sublimation printer for this project.
How to Create a Laser Cut File from a PNG
After you've printed the sublimation transfer sheet we need to export a laser cut file to match. This is why you need Silhouette Studio Business Edition. Do NOT change the size, scale, or move anything or this file will not line up with your sublimation print.
I have a more indepth tutorial here on how to create a laser cut file to match sublimation prints, but the basic steps are:
- Select the Entire Design or Set of Designs
- Fill with White (basically remove the design, but keep the shape)
- Change the Line Color to Red
- File Save > Save to Hard Drive > Save as SVG
How to Print on Sublimation Hardboard
Sublimation hardboard often comes in pre cut shapes, but with a laser cutter, you can cut it to make custom sublimation blanks! If you've never used sublimation hardboard before with a laser cutter, check out this beginner tutorial.
Heat up your heat press to 400 degrees.
Tape the printed sheet, face down, to the piece of sublimation hardboard.
Laser Cutting Sublimation Hardboard
Before you place the piece of hardboard into your laser cutter, I would suggest you tape or mask the hardboard to avoid getting dark areas around the laser cut edges from charring.
Open xTool Creative Space and connect your laser. Refresh the camera so you get the current view.
Go to File > Import Image and import that SVG file you exported from Silhouette Studio.
Use the Close Up Camera capture to focus on one an area where you can see the image through the tape or see your markings. Use the close up view to help you precisely line up the laser cut file.
Once you have it in position, make sure you are set to Cut. Enter the laser cut settings for hardboard. I found with the xTool P2: Power 100, Speed 10 and 1 Pass work well.
You can download my hardboard laser settings and printable cheat sheet for xTool M1, S1, and P2 settings here.
Click Process to begin the laser cutting.
Tip: If you have trouble lining up the laser cut lines to the printed image, you can cut the hardboard first then sublimate directly onto it.
The magnets I used are so strong that I found they were pulling toward other when I had the round hardboard too close to each other.
These came out so cute...and as you can see I'm clearly addicted to making laser cut fridge magnets from hardboard, wood, and acrylic.
.png)
No comments
Thanks for leaving a comment! We get several hundred comments a day. While we appreciate every single one of them it's nearly impossible to respond back to all of them, all the time. So... if you could help me by treating these comments like a forum where readers help readers.
In addition, don't forget to look for specific answers by using the Search Box on the blog. If you're still not having any luck, feel free to email me with your question.