In this tutorial we are going to show you how to position your laser file precisely on the Mr Beam working area, if you need alignment which is accurate to the millimeter. 


This method is especially useful, if you have a small margin between your design and your object, and if the camera deviation of +/- 5mm is critical for you. Also, if you are planning a small batch production, this method will give you a quicker and easier positioning option for repeating the same laser jobs than positioning through the camera image. (Please find more information about manual positioning in this article.)


1. Measure the diameter of your object - we have chosen a cork coaster as an example. 


2. Open a program of your choice for picture editing. You can use Adobe Photoshop, but also free graphic tools like Inkscape. We will be using Inkscape in our example (click here to download for free).


3. Create a new file with the previously measured length and width. In Inkscape you can do this by clicking on File > Properties. In our example the file should have the dimensions 19,5 x 19,5cm.

4. Draw a circle with the same diameter around your design. Please make sure that the circle has no filling, it should only have an outline. In Inkscape you can find this settings under Object >  Filling and outline. Additionally, you can align the outline circle with your design by clicking on Object > align and spread.

5. A further advice is to colour your outline circle in another colour than your design. This way you can easily keep the two processes apart (laser cutting and engraving) later on in the Mr Beam software. 



6. Add your design within the square and save it as an SVG-file.

7. Put a piece of paper inside your Mr Beam. Of course, you can use any other material at hand, but we recommend using paper, as we only want to cut the outline as a positioning help, as quickly and cheaply as possible.



8. Next step is to laser-cut a circle on the piece of paper. It does not matter if the whole circle fits entirely on the paper, We are only using the paper as a tool for precise positioning of you actual object within the working area. 


Open the Mr Beam Software in your browser and upload your file to your working area. Choose Paper as your material, and then skip the engraving job for now. To do this, drag and drop the two lines icon with the colour of your design to skip. Then proceed to cutting your coloured outline circle on the paper. Our example took 1 minute to laser-cut.




9. Take your object and place it exactly on the cut outline of your paper. Please make sure nothing shifts at this point! 


10. Open the software again, choose cork as your material. And this time drag-and-drop the coloured lines of the circle to skip. Drag the lines icon in the colour of your design to engrave. 


Finished!