Importing Hingesmith files into LightBurn and xTool Creative Space

Hingesmith exports a plain SVG or DXF drawn at 1:1 in millimetres, with the cuts, the scores and your sheet outline on three colours or layers. Here is how each of the common programs reads it.

What is in the file

• Red (#FF0000), or the CUT layer: every outline, slot and hinge cut. Full-depth cut, run last.
• Blue (#0000FF), or the SCORE layer: the lid art, plus the placement marks that show where the wall meets the base and where the seams go. Light line pass, run first.
• Black (#000000), or the BOUNDARY layer: your sheet outline. Output off.

The parts are nested for the sheet preset you chose (A3, 12 × 20 in, 12 × 12 in, a 400 × 300 ply sheet or the xTool S1 bed). If the design needs more than one sheet, each sheet is its own file.

LightBurn (Omtech, Monport, Ortur, Atomstack, Creality, K40 and most machines)

1. File → Import the SVG. If LightBurn asks, import in millimetres at 96 DPI.
2. Select all and read the size. The sheet boundary should match your preset. A 75% or 133% result means the DPI setting is off: Edit → Settings → File Settings → SVG import, then re-import.
3. In the Cuts / Layers panel, three layers appear by colour. Set blue to Line, low power, fast (the score). Set red to Line at your cut settings. Set black to Output: off.
4. Drag the score layer above the cut layer so it runs first.
5. Frame, then start. Use the kerf you measured in the Studio, not LightBurn's kerf offset: the file is already compensated.

xTool Creative Space (D1, S1, P2, M1, F1)

1. Import the SVG. XCS keeps the colours; use the sheet preset xTool S1 bed or 12 × 20 in when you export so the nest fits.
2. Click a blue line, then choose Select same colour (or filter by colour in the object list) and set it to Score with a light power.
3. Select the red lines the same way and set them to Cut with your plywood settings. Set the black boundary to Ignore, or delete it.
4. XCS processes in object order; put the score objects first, or process in two jobs: score, then cut.

Glowforge

1. Upload the SVG to the Glowforge app. Each colour arrives as its own step.
2. Set the blue step to Score, the red step to Cut, and the black step to Ignore.
3. Drag the score step above the cut step. Proofgrade Medium Plywood settings are a reasonable start for 3 mm Baltic birch.
4. Glowforge's bed is 12 × 20 in: export with that preset so nothing falls off the edge.

DXF, for CAD and older cutters

The DXF is an R12 file with polylines in millimetres on three named layers, which RDWorks, LaserGRBL, Inkscape, Fusion 360 and most CAM software read without trouble. The arcs are already flattened to short segments, so nothing is lost on import. DXF export is part of Pro.

Before you press start

• The sheet outline measures what the preset says.
• Score first, cut second, boundary off.
• Air assist on, focus set for the stock, and the sheet taped flat if it is bowed.
• First time on a new sheet: cut the bend test instead of the box.