How to Cut a Stencil on a Glowforge
To cut a stencil on a Glowforge, prepare a one-piece SVG (background removed, floating islands bridged, sized in millimetres), upload it to the Glowforge app, set the design to Cut, choose your material and let the app set the proportional power, then run. The Glowforge reads SVG natively, so the work is mostly in preparing a clean, connected file before you upload.
Step by step
- 1
Prepare a one-piece SVG
Remove the background, simplify to bold shapes, and bridge floating islands so nothing falls out. Size it in mm.
- 2
Pick a stencil material
Mylar, acrylic, basswood, or stencil board. Thin, rigid materials make crisp, reusable stencils.
- 3
Upload to the Glowforge app
Drag the SVG into the app. It appears on the bed preview at its real size.
- 4
Set the operation to Cut
Assign the design to Cut (not Engrave or Score) and select your material so the app sets proportional power.
- 5
Place, focus, and run
Position the design on your material in the camera view, confirm focus, and start the cut. Do a test on scrap for new materials.
The file matters more than the settings
On a Glowforge the cut settings are mostly handled for you once you pick the material. What makes or breaks a stencil is the file: it must be a clean, connected, correctly-sized SVG. If floating pieces are not bridged, the letter centres and inner shapes drop out and you are left with a useless solid blob. Prepare the file properly and the cut is easy.
Choosing a stencil material
Reusable painting stencils are usually cut from mylar or thin acrylic. For a one-time paint stencil, stencil board or cardstock works. For a decorative cut piece, basswood or acrylic. Thinner, rigid materials give the cleanest edges and the most reusable stencil; very thick material needs wider bridges to stay together.
Avoiding the classic mistakes
The three things that ruin a Glowforge stencil: pieces falling out (fix with bridging), the design importing at the wrong size (set mm before exporting), and tracing a photo without simplifying it (you get a tangle of paths). Solve all three before you upload and the cut goes smoothly.
Try it yourself
Turn a photo into a laser-ready file in about a minute — free, in your browser.
Make a Glowforge-ready fileFrequently asked questions
What file does a Glowforge need for a stencil?
An SVG with the design set to Cut. Prepare it as a clean, connected, mm-sized SVG with floating islands bridged before uploading to the Glowforge app.
What material should I use for a Glowforge stencil?
Mylar or thin acrylic for reusable stencils, stencil board or cardstock for one-time use, basswood or acrylic for decorative cut pieces.
Why do my stencil letters fall out on the Glowforge?
They are floating islands with no bridges. Connect each enclosed centre to the surrounding material before cutting so the stencil holds together.
How do I turn a photo into a Glowforge stencil?
Convert the photo to a clean one-piece SVG first (background removed, simplified, bridged), then upload that to the Glowforge app and set it to Cut.