LightBurn map files, ready to run

Most LightBurn map tutorials look like this: style a web map, export water, highways and arterials as separate PNGs without moving the map, image-trace each one in LightBurn, color each trace, build a frame, then fix the road pieces that turn out "too floppy" or float off as islands. It works. It just eats an evening per map.

I know HOW to cut them into layers but I have no idea how to make each layer or what to use.

A Glowforge forum member asking about layered maps

MappSmith starts from vector street data from OpenStreetMap, so there's no tracing. Each layer is drawn, welded and checked before it reaches LightBurn.

In Production files, tick LightBurn. The zip holds one cut SVG per layer (always), plus the .lbrn2 for each layer, named with its material. A README lists every sheet and its material.

Score is kept off the cut layer on purpose. On a stacked relief the glue guides are scores. If they cut, every sheet would be sliced along the outline of the sheet above. Engraved roads are joined into filled shapes before the file is written, so run that layer as a fill, not a line.

1. 01ScaleFiles are drawn in millimetres at the finished size. Measure the frame in LightBurn against your order. Registration marks, if on, sit in a margin outside the piece, so the file is larger by that margin.
2. 02KerfCut a 1 inch test square and measure it. A 0.990 inch result means a 0.010 inch beam. Kerf runs about 0.2 to 1 mm depending on process and material. Thin streets below it vanish.
3. 03Kerf offset where it mattersFor inlays or tight fits, use a kerf offset in that layer’s cut settings. For most map layers it isn’t needed.
4. 04Cut orderEngrave and score before cut, and inner shapes before outer ones, so a piece doesn’t drop before its details are done.
5. 05Test cheapRun the first copy on cardboard or chipboard.

If a native file can't be written for a layer, the zip says so and includes that layer's SVG. Import the SVG instead: the colors land on separate layers the same way. MappSmith writes engrave as black (#000000), score as blue (#0000FF) and cut as red (#FF0000) in every cut file.

For print and cut with LightBurn's camera, choose "Red + blue crosshairs" registration marks. In the cut file they sit on a non-burning layer, so they never cut.

1. 01Open one layerEach .lbrn2 is one sheet of one material. The material is in the file name.
2. 02Set the three layersCut, engrave (filled roads, text) and the second engrave layer for scores. Use your own tested settings.
3. 03Place on the stockFrame the job on the material. Keep clear of clamps and the bed edge.
4. 04Run, then the next sheetSwap material, open the next file, repeat. Sheets for stacked reliefs are numbered from the bottom.
5. 05Dry-stack, then glueLine the frame bands up. On reliefs, follow the scored glue guides.

Running a batch of ornaments or coasters? Build one sheet in MappSmith Sheets with your stock size, edge margin and spacing. You get one file for the whole sheet instead of copy-pasting in LightBurn. Every format choice (LightBurn, xTool, DXF, PDF) is remembered on your computer, because it's a property of your shop, not of one map.