Print&Cut Birthday Card

In this tutorial, we show you how to create personalized printed cards with JobControl® Vision Software and camera systems.

happy birthday card laser cut

Preparation

Required material
  • Individually printed paper 200g/m² for the inner part
  • Printed or colored paper for the outer part at least 300 g/m²
  • Adhesive dots or tape/glue
Machine used

You can also recreate this sample with Speedy 300, Speedy 400 and SP500 with the JobControl® Vision software.

Important
  • For the inner part use paper with a minimum weight of 150 g/m² to give the card a better stand.
  • Make sure to send beziers curves to the printer in the driver settings. Otherwise JobControl® Vision can not recognize the registration marks.
Print and cut birthday card

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Print and cut birthday card

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Step by step

printer settings for laser
Step 1

Step 1: Inner part

Create your own design or use our template for the inner part of the card. For an even more personal card, you can add name and age of the recipient before printing.

Next, send your design to the laser with the settings below, in this case only the registration marks and cutting line. Then you should deactivate the layer with the graphic design because so that it is not sent to the laser.

Print settings

Process mode Resolution Cut line
Standard 1000 dpi none
Halftone Others
Color enhanced geometries
inner geometries first
happy birthday card laser cut
Step 2

Step 2: Laser process inner part

The laser parameters may vary depending on the type of laser machine and available laser power.

Laser Parameters

Laser Parameters Colour Process Power (%) Speed (%)
 RegMark  Black  RegMark  -  -
 Creasing  Red Cut CO2  3,5 2
 Cutting  Blue Cut CO2  7 1
 Cutting  Desert blue Cut CO2  15 4
ppi/Hz Passes Air Assist Z-Offset Advanced
- - - - -
1000 1 on +1.5 mm -
1000 1 on - -
1000 1 on - Correction 20
reg mark laser softwrae
Step 3

Step 3: Positioning of print and laser job

Connect JobControl® with the laser.

Move the job from the queue on the plate and place it in the print position in the machine. To do so, move the laserpointer to the middle of any registration mark and the drag the corresponding one to the crosshairs in JobControl®.

Tip:

Use the “What you see is what you get” function (WYSIWYG) in JobControl® for easier positioning.

laser cutting vision software
Step 4

Step 4: Calibrate the camera

First adjust the focus on the paper. To calibrate the camera, go to Settings - Options - Hardware - Vision. The goal is to have the registration mark stand out from the background.
Next, move the camera to any registration mark on the print. With the ideal settings of Exposure, Gamma and Threshold, the circle around the registration mark will be green. The bar below the preview will also be green. You may adapt these parameters accordingly.

Tip:

For compensation choose fully nonlinear. With this selection the software can adjust the job to scaled and rotated prints.

jobcontrol vision registration marks
Step 5

Step 5: Cutting the job

After you set up the camera you can start your job.

If position and orientation of the laser job in JobControl® fits to the position of the material on the working area, JobControl reads all registration marks automatically and cuts the job.

If the positions do not fit together, you will need to manually assign the position by placing the camera at the first registration mark. If the bar below the camera preview is green, 
confirm with Enter. If the print is distorted, assign the second registration mark to the correct position. The remaining registration marks will then be read automatically.

assembly of laser cut greetings card
Step 6

Step 6: Outer part

For the outer part of the card we decided to go with double-page printed paper.
In this case we are not using registration marks because we don't need any contour cutting.

Next, send your design to the laser with the parameters below.

Tip:

For an even more sophisticated finishing for your card, you can add an engraving with a pattern or the name of the recipient.

Print settings

Process mode Resolution Cut line
Standard 500 dpi none
Halftone Others
Color enhanced geometries
inner geometries first
birthday paper popup card
Step 7

Step 7: Laser process outer part

Take our parameters for the outer part. The laser parameters may vary depending on the type of laser machine and available laser power.

Tip:

If you use another type of paper, test the right parameter settings on a small, not needed part.

Laser Parameters

Laser Parameters Colour Process Power (%) Speed (%)
Creasing Red Cut CO2 5 2
Cutting Desert blue Cut CO2 20 3,8
ppi/Hz Passes Air Assist Z-Offset Advanced
1000 1 on +1,5 mm -
1000 1 on - Correction 20
folding paper birthday card
Step 8

Step 8: Finishing

The next step is folding the card. This is the tricky part. Start with the middle fold. Then work your way up by folding the cake tiers.

Then put the inner part in the outer card. Use either adhesive dots or tape or glue.

Tip:

You want to play it safe and fold the card beforehand? For the first try, you can cut the job on normal, unprinted paper (80 g/m²) with less power for the creasing. Just change the process of the Black parameter to "Skip."

laser engraving machine applications

Inspirations

In a hurry? Try an engraved card. Just use the same design on white or colorful paper. Again make sure to use paper with a minimum weight of 150 g/m².

Speedy series
The ideal laser engraver and cutter for personalization.

Discover laser engravers and cutters

Questions about applications or settings?
We're happy to advise you from A for Air assist to Z for z-offset.

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