This was a tricky procedure. I wanted a 1/2 in cutting board, and only the Coherent Metabeam 400W would cut it (pun intended). The software is very antiquated and it took some time to figure out the right offset. Tessellations are difficult, because any variation will either cause the whole thing to have slack, or as you add more, it'll lock up on you. Trial and error is the only way to do this. Cut 9 with one offset, and cut another 9 to see the difference. Iterate, Fail. Burn lots of wood.

Testing The Tessellations:

This needed to be taken into account when testing the offset. The shape was MUCH tighter on one side than the other. I found a .045in offset on the whole lizard allowed them to lock together sufficiently.

Next, I needed to cut 3 different hardwoods, each with different densities and flash points. It took a lot of trial and error to get the power and feed right.

Lasers are a high-precision tool, but have a kerf width that is shaped like an hourglass. This is very apparent when looking at the reverse side of the assembly, as the gap is completely closed. I had to use a .2in focus offset to get it to burn through.

Making A Jig:

I cut a jig out of acrylic to house the 2x2in squares. I used the DXF from the jig and placed a lizard within the file, and repeated the pattern. Please Note: Don't move the jig, and make the lizard within the same file, so that the origin stays fixed. Or make alignment holes so that the cuts don't fall out of alignment. I made this mistake and it took quite a lot of work to manually find the right orientation.

Production Run:

Once the jig is aligned, and you know your laser settings, it's time to do the production run. Lay out your blocks within the jig, and modify the final cut file to accommodate the number of blocks you are working with. Sit patiently as the lizards are cut out, keeping an eye out for fires or the cuts running off the wood.