sparq.tools
Save your machine and material settings — kerf, fit calibration, and laser parameters persist between sessions and export directly to LightBurn.
Generate files, fix joints, and get cuts that actually fit — your files are never stored.
Fix problems before you cut
Adjust files you already have
Create new designs from scratch
Cut a simple square on your actual material, measure it with calipers, and get your laser's kerf width. Save it to your machine profile for reference.
Download the test square, cut it on your actual material. Measure the cut piece with calipers. The difference between designed and measured size is your kerf.
One quick measurement tells sparq.tools how your laser cuts — and every generator uses it automatically.
Every laser cutter burns away a tiny sliver of material as it cuts — that gap is called kerf. A typical laser removes about 0.1–0.3 mm per cut. That small gap adds up and can make joints too loose or too tight.
Every machine is different. The same laser at different power, speed, or with a different lens cuts a different kerf. There's no universal number — you have to measure yours.
KerfFinder generates a small test square. Cut it on a scrap of your actual material, measure it with calipers, and enter the number. sparq.tools saves it to your profile and uses it automatically.
With your kerf saved, pick any generator from the home page. Your kerf will be pre-filled automatically. If you ever switch materials — thicker wood, acrylic, MDF — just run KerfFinder again and update the number.
Scans your SVG for issues that cause bad cuts — duplicate lines, open paths, stray geometry, and features too small for your kerf. Safe problems are removed automatically; ambiguous ones are flagged for your review.
Colors found in this file and what operation each maps to based on your machine profile.
These are almost certainly accidents. Safe to remove automatically.
These might be intentional — open paths could be score lines, small elements could be detail work. Flag them in the file and review in LightBurn.
Detects intentional geometry that may be too small for the laser to produce cleanly — holes that will burn closed, slots narrower than the beam. These are warnings, not errors. Fix in your design tool before cutting.
Finds thin bridges within complex shapes — when two non-adjacent segments of the same closed path come within the threshold, that section is fragile and may snap during or after cutting. Straight-segment paths only; curved shapes are not analyzed.
Flagged paths are highlighted in cyan. Open in Illustrator or LightBurn to locate them.
Fix laser-cut joints so they fit the first time — no calipers or math required.
Drop in your project SVG — slot sizes are detected automatically. The next step generates a test strip.
Cut this on scrap material. Each slot is slightly different — try each one and pick the best fit.
Red = cut lines · Blue = engraved labels · Cut both pieces from the same scrap sheet
After cutting and testing, click the number of the slot that gave the best fit:
Slot dimensions have been adjusted for your material. Test one piece before cutting the full sheet.
Maker · Software Engineer · Laser Hobbyist
sparq.tools started because I kept running into the same frustrations — files that looked fine in Illustrator but cut wrong, finger joints always a little off, no fast way to fix any of it without endless manual fiddling.
I'm a software engineer who fell down the laser rabbit hole and never came back. Eventually I just built the tools I wished existed. Every tool here started as something I needed — or something I kept hearing other laser folks wish existed.
Your files are never stored — processed and gone. I'm a maker who values privacy, not a company that monetizes your data. And honestly? There's always one more tool worth building.
File Check — drop in an SVG and get a 3-tier analysis: structure, operations, and duplicates.
KerfFinder — measure your laser's actual kerf from a test cut and store it with your profile.
FitFix — correct slot width on finger joints and inlay/pocket offsets. Loose, Snug, and Tight fit presets.
Stand Builder — display stands, slot bases, phone stands, and bookends. Kerf-compensated, fit presets built in.
Box Maker — open tray, divided tray, and sliding lid. Finger-jointed, kerf-adjusted.
Easel Builder — freestanding and folding stands in five sizes each. Kerf-adjusted from your saved profile.
Living Hinge — alternating slot pattern sized to your material thickness.
LetterForge — welded SVG letters with score lines and offset backer. 20 fonts. Circle and rectangle frame modes.
Star Chart — stereographic star map for any date and location, cut + score layers.
Thread Art — frames with laser-precise hole patterns for string art. Includes a numbered threading guide.
Resize — scale any SVG to exact dimensions in mm or inches.
Thickness Swap — rescale joint dimensions when switching material thickness.
Tabs & Bridges — add holding tabs so pieces stay on the sheet during cutting.
Nesting — arrange multiple pieces to minimize material waste.
Tiler — slice oversized designs into bed-sized tiles with registration marks.
Centerline Trace, Color Remap, Explode, and more.
Questions, bug reports, feature ideas, or just want to say hi — I'd love to hear from you. Or reach me directly at hello@sparq.tools.
Scales your design to exact dimensions. Shapes and proportions are preserved — enter a new width or height and the other updates automatically.
Got a design made for 1/4" but you're cutting 1/8"? Drop the SVG, confirm what the design was built for, pick your actual stock, and download — slot depths update, panel dimensions stay the same.
Generate two-piece interlocking stands with kerf-compensated T-slots. No glue, no hardware — just cut and slide together.
Choose a style, enter your dimensions, and download a cut-ready SVG. Kerf compensation is applied automatically.
Choose a preset or enter custom dimensions below.
Generate a flex-cut hinge pattern sized to your material. The alternating slot layout lets flat sheet bend smoothly without snapping — set your dimensions and cut.
A living hinge is a flex zone laser-cut into flat sheet material. Alternating rows of slots leave thin bridges of intact material that bend — turning a rigid sheet into something that folds without a mechanical hinge.
The Side A and Side B panels are solid pieces on each end of the hinge zone. They stay rigid when the hinge bends — they become the functional faces of your finished piece. The whole thing cuts from a single sheet.
Best choice. Cut across the grain — orient the file so the hinge cuts run perpendicular to the wood grain. The thin bridges between cuts align with the long fibers, which flex repeatedly without snapping. The hinge bends parallel to the grain.
Works, but acrylic is more brittle than wood. Flex it gently — tight bend radii or repeated cycling will crack it. Cast acrylic flexes better than extruded. No grain direction to worry about, but keep bend radius generous.
Not recommended. MDF has no long fibers — it's compressed wood dust. The bridges between cuts have nothing to flex with, so they crack quickly under any real use. Fine for a one-time demo or mockup, but avoid it for anything functional.
Pick a design and size — kerf compensation applied automatically from your KerfFinder profile. 3mm material.
Generate a laser-ready star map for any moment in time and place.
Laser-cut frames with precisely spaced holes for string art and thread embroidery. Includes a numbered threading guide — perfect for kits or finished pieces.
Adds small holding tabs to exterior cut paths so pieces stay attached to the sheet during cutting. Snap them out by hand when done. Interior cutouts are left untouched.
Type text, pick a font, and get a welded SVG with score/engrave lines and an offset backer (solid backing layer).
Reassign SVG layer colors to match your machine profile. Upload a file from Etsy or another source, map each color to an operation, and download a remapped copy. Your original file is never changed.
Split paths into individual pieces you can move and edit independently. Separate shapes packed into one compound path, cut a path at its corners, or break it at every single anchor point.
Generate a circle or square starter shape with a loop tab or hanging hole — sized to your spec and ready to bring into your design.
Upload a PNG or JPG and get back a laser-ready SVG with paths running along the center of each stroke.
Inventory every straight-segment length in your file, then select a group and swap it to a new dimension. Segments scale from their midpoint — great for adjusting specific feature sizes like slot widths, tab lengths, or engraving lines.
Pack multiple SVG cut pieces onto a sheet to minimize material waste. Add files, set copies per piece, then click Nest.
Slice a design that's larger than your laser bed into bed-sized tiles. Choose how adjacent tiles join together — clean butt cuts, press-fit trapezoid tabs, or bowtie keys.