Free tool · no sign-up · LightBurn file and SVG

Laser living hinge test

Will your sheet bend? Cut one set of test strips: each strip has its own distance between the rows of cuts. Bend them around one former, pick the stiffest strip that still bends far enough without cracking, and use it for boxes, lamps and covers.

Your laser

Laser type
W

Material

Measure the sheet with a caliper if you can: a “3 mm” sheet is often 2.7–3.2 mm. The row pitch range follows the thickness.

Hinge pattern

Your cut settings

%

The settings that cut this sheet cleanly through, from the material test. This tool does not guess them. Without them you can still download the SVG.

Sheet to scale: cut through · scored labels. Hinge cuts are cut first, the strip outlines last.

Free, no email needed.
  1. LightBurn: File › Open (not Import). Labels are scored first, then the hinge cuts, the strip outlines last. Check Preview, run Frame, then start.
  2. SVG carries shapes only: black = score labels (low power), blue = cut through, red = cut through last. Cut on a flat sheet, in focus, with air assist.
  3. Leave the strips in the sheet until they cool. Check that every cut went through before you move the sheet.

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Read your test

  1. Pick one former for all strips: a pipe, a can, a jar about as round as your project needs. Write down its diameter.
  2. Bend every strip slowly around it to the same angle. Small pitch (left) bends easily, large pitch (right) is stiffer.
  3. Look for cracks, torn bridges and whether the strip springs back or stays bent. For a hinge that opens and closes, bend it about 10 times.
  4. Pick the stiffest strip that passed (click it again to clear), then under “Your hinge” enter the former and angle and mark the strip Passed, Cracked or Torn: it is saved with the test.
jar

Pick the best strip

None fits? · · · ·

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Your hinge

Material Pick a strip Nothing is picked, so nothing is copied or passed on.

How it works

  1. Choose your laser, the material and its thickness. Put in the power and speed that cut this sheet through.
  2. Download the file and cut it. Each strip has a different row pitch; “Compare all” adds a row for each pattern.
  3. Bend every strip around the same former to the same angle. The stiffest one that passes is your hinge: copy its record and use the same row pitch, cuts and bridges in your design.

Tips

  • Straight is the classic hinge: easy to draw, bends one way. Wave uses curved cuts, which change how the hinge bends: compare it with Straight in your material. Snake is one long zig-zag: it bends the most and also twists, but it is floppy.
  • Plywood: the outer layer’s grain matters. If a strip cracks along the grain, cut the test again turned by 90° and compare.
  • A hinge bends over its whole length. For a 90° corner the cut area needs to be about a quarter of a circle long: the calculator under “Your hinge” gives a geometric estimate. Check it on a former of your radius.
  • Burnt walls between the cuts are weak. Air assist helps; a faster speed with more passes may help too (try it on one strip); a larger row pitch leaves more material.

FAQ

What is a living hinge?

Rows of short cuts that turn a stiff sheet into a flexible one. The thin walls between the rows twist a little each, and together they let plywood or MDF bend around a corner or into a curve, without a separate hinge.

What row pitch should I start with?

The test starts at about 0.4 × the thickness and goes up to about 1 × the thickness, for 3 mm plywood that is 1.2 to 3 mm. A smaller pitch bends more but breaks sooner; the best one depends on your material, the pattern and how far you need to bend.

Is the row pitch the wall thickness?

Not quite. The row pitch is the distance between the laser lines. The laser burns away a kerf, often 0.1–0.2 mm, so the wall left is about the pitch minus the kerf. Enter your kerf in Advanced settings (the kerf test measures it) to see the walls.

Which materials work?

Plywood (birch and basswood) works best. MDF bends too but cracks sooner. Cardboard and chipboard bend easily. Cast acrylic bends only gently and breaks if forced; extruded acrylic is worse. Do not cut PVC or vinyl: the fumes are toxic and corrode the machine.

Why does the tool not fill in my cut settings?

Cut settings depend on your laser, the lens, the air assist and the exact sheet. A guess that does not cut through ruins the whole test, so put in the settings you know cut this sheet, or find them first with the material test.

Does it work with xTool Creative Space or Glowforge?

Yes, with the SVG. Set black to score (low power) or skip it, blue and red to cut. Cut blue before red, so the strips stay in place while the hinge is cut.

mm/s or mm/min?

LightBurn shows either, depending on your settings. Many diode lasers use mm/min. Pick the same units in Advanced settings. 1 mm/s = 60 mm/min.

Inches or millimetres?

Switch mm / in next to “Material”. It changes the sizes you see and the numbers scored on the strips, not the strips themselves. Speeds stay in mm/s or mm/min, like in LightBurn.