Are you a crafting enthusiast looking to expand the capabilities of your Brother Scan N Cut machine? Did you know that beyond cutting paper and fabric, your Scan N Cut can also engrave? Yes, you heard that right! By utilizing specialized Brother Scan N Cut engraving tools, you can open up a whole new dimension of creative projects, adding intricate designs to materials like acrylic, metal, and more. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Brother Scan N Cut engraving tools and how to use them, specifically focusing on achieving stunning results with acrylic ornaments.
While Brother doesn’t officially endorse third-party engraving tools, the crafting community has discovered ingenious solutions to unlock this feature. One such solution, the Chomas Creations engraving tip, allows Scan N Cut users to engrave with precision and ease. In this tutorial, we’ll delve into how to use this fantastic tool, transforming your Scan N Cut into a powerful engraving machine. We will guide you through the process of setting up your design in Brother Canvas Workspace, preparing your Scan N Cut machine, and executing your first engraving project. Let’s dive in and discover the exciting world of Scan N Cut engraving!
Step One – Preparing Your Design in Brother Scan N Cut Canvas Workspace
The first step to successful engraving is setting up your design correctly in Brother Canvas Workspace, the free design software for your Scan N Cut. For this tutorial, we’ll use a memorial dog ornament design as an example, but the principles apply to any engraving project.
Start by downloading your SVG design file. Once downloaded, locate the zipped file in your downloads folder and extract its contents to a location on your computer where you can easily find it. Next, open Brother Canvas Workspace. If you don’t have it installed yet, you can download it for free from the official Brother website.
Once Canvas Workspace is open, click on the ‘SVG’ icon located on the left toolbar. This will open a window allowing you to navigate to your saved SVG file. Find the file, select it, and click ‘Open’. Your design should now appear on the Canvas Workspace mat, typically in the upper left corner.
Important Note on Design Sizing: The provided dog bone SVG design is pre-sized for a specific acrylic ornament blank. If you are using a different sized blank, you’ll need to resize the design accordingly. To do this, select the design and click on the ‘Edit’ icon in the right toolbar (it resembles a square). In the ‘Edit’ panel, you can adjust the width and height of the design. Ensure that the narrower central part of the bone design is appropriately sized for the middle section of your acrylic blank to ensure proper design fitting during engraving. For significantly different ornament shapes, you may need to create a custom bone template, a process that is often covered in video tutorials dedicated to Scan N Cut engraving.
Step Two – Customizing Your Design with Pet Name and Dates
Personalization is key to creating meaningful engraved ornaments. Let’s customize our dog memorial ornament by adding the pet’s name and years.
In Canvas Workspace, navigate to the ‘Layers’ tab on the right toolbar (it looks like stacked paper sheets). You’ll see a list of design elements. Locate the layer named ‘Otis’. Clicking on ‘Otis’ in the layers panel will highlight the word “Otis” within the bone design on your mat. Select the ‘Otis’ layer and drag it off the bone shape. Repeat this for the ‘2001-2012’ years layer. Alternatively, you can use the ‘Select’ arrow tool from the top toolbar and click directly on the words “Otis” and “2001-2012” on the design to select and move them. The Layers panel method is often more reliable, especially with smaller or overlapping design elements. You can now delete the placeholder name “Otis” and years “2001-2012” or keep them temporarily as size guides for your custom text – just remember to delete them before proceeding.
To add your custom text, click the ‘T’ (Text) button on the left toolbar. Click anywhere on the mat and type your dog’s name; for example, “Molly”. To change the font, go to the ‘Properties’ tab on the right toolbar (paintbrush icon) and click on the ‘Text’ menu. This will reveal a dropdown list of fonts installed on your computer. Choose your desired font for the dog’s name. In the original example, the font ‘Empathy’ was used.
Resize the name to fit appropriately within the bone’s wings. Select the name, drag it onto the bone, and use the corner handles of the bounding box to resize it by dragging inwards. Crucially, avoid using the middle handles on the bounding box sides, as these will distort the text proportions, altering only width or height.
Welding Script Fonts: If you’ve chosen a script font where letters appear connected, be aware that Scan N Cut might interpret them as individual overlapping cut elements. This can lead to undesirable engraving results with small gaps. To fix this, select the script name, go to the ‘Edit’ tab (box icon) on the right toolbar, and find the ‘Shapes’ section towards the bottom. Click the ‘Weld’ icon (resembling a joined circle and triangle). This will merge the overlapping letters into a single, cohesive shape, eliminating unwanted cut lines. Repeat the text addition process for the dog’s years. Welding might not be necessary for years if they are composed of individual, non-script numbers.
Adding Fill (Optional): For enhanced visibility of the engraved design on clear acrylic, you can optionally add a fill to the name and years. Select the text, and in the top toolbar, choose a fill color. Note that the color choice here is irrelevant for engraving; it’s merely a visual aid in Canvas Workspace. The engraving itself will produce a frosted, white-like appearance on the acrylic. Scan N Cut’s engraving fill effect is somewhat rustic and not perfectly solid, which can add to the charm of handmade items.
Step Three – Flipping the Design, Setting to Draw, and Saving
For engraving on the back of the acrylic ornament to be viewed correctly from the front, we need to mirror (flip) the design horizontally. We also need to change the operation from ‘Cut’ to ‘Draw’ in Canvas Workspace to prepare the file for engraving.
Select all the elements you want to engrave – in our case, the halo, dog’s name, and years – while ensuring the bone outline itself is not selected. You can do this by holding down the Shift key and clicking on each element. Navigate to the ‘Edit’ tab again and click the ‘Align Objects’ ‘Center’ button and the ‘Distribute Objects’ ‘Vertical’ button. This helps to neatly arrange the selected elements centered and vertically spaced within the bone area. You may need to make minor manual adjustments by eye to perfectly center the design between the bone’s wings.
Once you are satisfied with the placement, ensure all the engravable elements (halo, name, years) are selected (again, excluding the bone outline). Go to the ‘Edit’ menu in the top left of the screen (not the ‘Edit’ tab on the right toolbar). Scroll down to ‘Flip’, then hover over to ‘Flip Horizontal’ and click. The design will flip horizontally, reversing the text and numbers.
Now, crucial step: change the operation to ‘Draw’. Click on the ‘Layers’ icon on the right toolbar. For each layer that you intend to engrave (halo, name, years), locate the small knife blade icon next to the eye icon on the right side of the layer. Click on the knife blade icon. A short menu will appear; select ‘Draw’. The icon will change from a knife blade to a pen nib. Repeat this ‘Draw’ setting for all engraving layers. This step is mandatory before sending the file to your Scan N Cut. The Scan N Cut machine needs the ‘Draw’ setting to be pre-assigned in the file to enable the ‘Draw’ option on the machine itself for engraving. This is a known characteristic of Scan N Cut software and machine workflow.
Finally, save your prepared design file. Go to the ‘File’ menu next to ‘Edit’ in the top left corner. Scroll down to ‘Save As’ and click it. Choose the location on your computer where you want to save the file, give it a descriptive name, and click ‘Save’.
Step Four – Arranging on Mat and Transferring to Scan N Cut
Canvas Workspace’s on-screen mat representation mirrors your physical Scan N Cut mat. The grid lines represent 1-inch increments, which are also marked on your physical mat. Precise placement in Canvas Workspace translates to accurate placement on your actual mat.
To ensure you know exactly where to position your acrylic ornament on the physical mat, and where the engraving will occur, select all design elements, including the bone outline this time. Drag the entire design so that the left edge of the bone aligns with the first vertical grid line from the left, and the top of the bone aligns with the first horizontal grid line from the top. This positions the design at the 1-inch mark from both the top and left edges of the mat. This consistent positioning will be mirrored when you place your acrylic ornament on the physical mat.
Since we are engraving on a pre-cut acrylic bone ornament, we don’t need the Scan N Cut to cut out the bone shape itself. We only want to engrave the design elements within it. To remove the bone outline from the output, go to the ‘Layers’ tab and find the ‘Bone shape’ layer. Click on the eye icon at the end of the line to hide the bone layer. The bone outline will disappear from the mat view in Canvas Workspace. You can optionally save the file again at this point, but it’s not essential. Just remember to hide the bone layer and position the design on the mat correctly each time you prepare to engrave another ornament.
Now, transfer your design file to your Scan N Cut machine. Go to the ‘File’ menu, scroll to ‘Export/Transfer FCM file’, and click it. A warning box will appear, stating that hidden objects will not be exported – this is expected and correct since we hid the bone outline. Click ‘Okay’. Choose your preferred transfer method: USB drive/save to folder, wireless, or cable, depending on your Scan N Cut model and setup. Once the transfer is complete, a confirmation message will appear indicating the machine is ready to retrieve the design. Proceed to your Scan N Cut machine.
Step Five – Retrieving Design and Engraving on Your Scan N Cut
At your Scan N Cut machine’s home screen, tap the ‘Retrieve Data’ box. Select the icon corresponding to your file transfer method. If you used wireless or cable, the design should appear on the screen. If using a USB drive, navigate to your design file, select it, and it will load onto the screen. Verify that the design is positioned at the 1-inch mark from the top and left edges of the on-screen mat, and that the bone outline is absent.
Prepare Your Machine and Mat: Remove the standard blade from your Scan N Cut blade holder and replace it with the Brother Scan N Cut engraving tool, such as the Chomas Creations engraving tip. This tip is designed to fit directly into the Auto Blade slot – no adapter needed.
Take your standard tack mat and your acrylic ornament blank. Remove the protective liner from the mat. Apply a piece of strong double-sided tape to the back of the acrylic ornament blank. Position the ornament, tape-side down, onto the mat, aligning it with the 1-inch down and 1-inch over grid lines, mirroring the placement you set in Canvas Workspace.
Critical Tape Note: Standard blue painter’s tape is generally not strong enough to reliably hold acrylic blanks during engraving. The engraving process exerts force, and weak tape can lead to the blank shifting mid-engraving, ruining the project. Using strong double-sided tape is essential to secure the blank firmly.
Ornament Thickness Limit: Ensure your acrylic ornament blank is thin enough to pass under the roller bar of your Scan N Cut machine. On Scan N Cut DX models, with the lever on the right side set to position #2, the maximum thickness appears to be around 3mm. Exceeding this thickness can cause machine issues.
Engraving Process: Load the mat with the secured ornament blank into your Scan N Cut machine. On the LED screen, tap ‘OK’, then ‘Please Select’, and choose ‘DRAW’. It’s vital to select ‘DRAW’ as this instructs the machine to use the engraving tool rather than a cutting blade. The screen will return to the design view. Tap ‘Start’. A message might appear prompting you to insert the ‘appropriate holder’ – this is a generic message because the machine expects a pen holder for ‘Draw’ operations, but the engraving tip fits directly. Simply tap ‘OK’ and then ‘Start’ again. The machine will now commence engraving your design onto the acrylic ornament. The LED screen will display the estimated engraving time.
Once engraving is complete, the mat will advance, and the screen will display “Finished Cutting” (this message is displayed even for ‘Draw’ operations). Tap ‘OK’ and unload the mat.
Finishing Touches: Carefully remove the engraved acrylic ornament from the mat and peel off the double-sided tape. Use the removed tape or your fingertip to gently brush away any acrylic debris that has accumulated around the engraved areas. Avoid using anything that could scratch the acrylic surface. Clean any debris from the engraving tip itself before future use. Finally, wipe the ornament with a lint-free cloth, add a ribbon or ornament hanger, and your personalized engraved acrylic ornament is ready to display or gift!
This snowflake ornament demonstrates the fill effect achieved by the engraving tool on larger design areas.
Supply List
Please note that some of the following links may be affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. This helps support the blog and channel.
- Brother Scan N Cut Machine: [Link to Brother Scan N Cut machines] (example link)
- Chomas Creations Engraving Tip for Scan N Cut: [Link to Chomas Creations Engraving Tip] (example link)
- Acrylic Ornament Blanks (Bone Shaped or other): [Link to Acrylic Bone Ornament Blanks or alternatives] (example link – consider linking to 3″ bone alternative as mentioned in original article if still relevant, or general acrylic ornament blank category links)
- Strong Double-Sided Tape: [Link to Strong Double-Sided Tape] (example link)
- Lint-Free Cloths: [Link to Lint-Free Cloths] (example link)
- Ribbon or Ornament Hangers: [Link to Ornament Hangers] (example link)
Original Dog Memorial Ornament SVG, PNG & Brother Scan & Cut Files – Design availability may vary, check original source if interested.
The 4″ Acrylic Bone Ornament mentioned in the original article from Michaels may be discontinued. Consider 3″ alternatives like those from 143vinyl.com or similar suppliers based on current availability.
