Are you going to try your first laser-cut puzzle using XTool M1 Ultra ? You have come to the right place. Here I am going to share with you two puzzles I made for my 8-year-old son, who is a cricket fan, and my one-year-old, who is ready to explore puzzles. Here, I am sharing the step-by-step procedure I followed to create the puzzles.
Paint palette color puzzle
Materials Used :
Basswood plank used for top layer
Basswood plank used for base layer
Acrylic paints
Paint brush
Wood glue or super glue
Wood knob (I used the Mushroom decor pieces from Dollar tree which served as a perfect knobs for the puzzle piece)
Step 1: Download a free paint palette clip art or any image in the shape you desire onto the XCS software. Use the trace or offset feature to get the outline of the paint palette. Then, use the shape tool to draw the circles and the text tool to write the names of the colors. When you click the arc to the right of the text tool, you can easily curve the text to match the arc of the circle.
Step 2: Copy and paste the outline and the circles onto another canvas (This is going to be your base layer). Choose the settings for the base layer. Click on the layers icon(last on the bottom left) - select the outline vector and click cut. Select the circles and select the score. I selected scoring because it helps in coloring the circles.
Then, for the top layer, select the outline design and circles, and select cut. Then, for the texts, select engrave.
I designed this color puzzle inspired by the Montessori Color box 2, so I have included primary colors - red, blue, yellow, secondary colors - green, purple, orange and brown, pink, gray, black and white. In total, it includes 11 colors.
Step 3: Once the layers are cut, start painting the base layer circles and the circle wood pieces cut from the top layer in respective colors using acrylic paint. It may require two to three coats of paint, depending on the brand of acrylic paint.
Step 4:Once the paint is dry, glue the knob for the circle pieces using wood glue. Then glue the top layer and base layer together using glue. The puzzle is now ready.
Note: I have used two different glues to try out which one has a strong hold. These two glues have different purposes. The wood glue takes a long time to dry, whereas the super glue is quick and has a strong hold.
Cricket-themed Circle Jigsaw puzzle
My son loves cricket so much lately that I decided I had to create cricket-themed gift for his birthday this year. Since the normal puzzles are no longer challenging for him, I thought I would make a circle jigsaw puzzle. I came across the
Jigsaw puzzle generator while I was brainstorming ideas for the puzzle and it made the puzzle making so much easier as it generates SVG files to make the puzzle.
The only thing that I have to make is the picture. I thought I would make a collage of his favorite players. I used Canva to create the collage. I started with an 11-inch circle with a blue background as the base, and removed the background of the cricket players and added them to the circle. This was a perfect picture for the puzzle.
Material used :
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
Step 1: Import the picture into the XCS software. Copy the jigsaw puzzle template on top of the picture. Create an offset of 0.25 inch for the outer circle. Then align the picture's outer edge with the outer circle.
Step 2: Click Multi-module processing. Select the picture and click the inkjet module. Drag the intensity to 100. I sprayed with the Xtool Wood printing fixative spray.
Then select the jigsaw template and the outer circle, click laser on a flat surface, and then set the settings according to the material.
To create a base layer for the puzzle, you need to copy the jigsaw template and the outer circle on to another canvas and then set the outer cirlce to cut and the template to score.
Step 3: Now that the software part is done, the next step is the actual making part. To print, I first tried to place the wood onto the triangular prism, but the inkjet module moved the wood plank while printing so I had to cancel the process and then remove the prisms. Then, I place the wood plank onto the light grip cutting mat and process the printing part. Look at how crisp and neat the picture turned out.
Step 4: The challenging part of making this puzzle was to align the puzzle for the laser because the snapshot feature doesn't work on the app for me, and the puzzle cannot be laser processed on the mat. So I carefully moved the plank onto the baseplate and aligned the corners, marked the area (Circle )in the software, and then aligned the marked area to the puzzle template's outer edge and hit the start button.
To be honest, I was watching and praying that it should work, and it worked. The only thing I would change the next time is that I will reduce the power to 80 because the wood I used is not 3mm and it wasn't necessary to use 90 power as the wood pieces got stuck to the base plate and I had to use the knife like tool used for wedding the vinyl to pull the pieces out.
Step 5: Now, use another basswood plank to process the base layer of the puzzle.
Step 6: Paint the outer circle of the top layer and attach the outer circle to the base layer using super glue.
The laser-cut cricket-themed circle jigsaw puzzle is now ready to play. It was quite challenging for him to finish the puzzle without the base layer, so I modified the puzzle by adding a scored base layer, which helped him to finish the puzzle with little help. I printed the picture as such on a paper as a guide to help him solve the puzzle. What do you think about this cricket-themed puzzle? Would you buy one if it is up for sale? Share with me in the comments below. I really love the potential of the
Xtool M1 Ultra in bringing my dream ideas to reality.
I hope this post gave you an idea of how to create your own laser-cut puzzles using XTool M1 Ultra. Do check the Xtool website for all the cool laser machines. ,
If you are a homeschooling parent, you need to check Xtool Education to learn how laser cutters can be used to transform abstract concepts into tangible solutions, such as designing functional prototypes, engineering mechanical models, creating art, and enhancing learning across multiple subjects with tech tools, such as STEAM and maker education.
This post is a Collaboration with Xtool, however, all the opinions expressed are my own. By clicking the affiliate links above and purchasing, you are helping me grow, and it is not going to cost you anything. Thank you.
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