Acrylic Engraving on Keychains With Perfect Placement!

Instructions

STEP 1: GET MY FREE ENGRAVED ACRYLIC DESIGN FILES

First, download my free Engraved Keychain SVG/DXF/PDF design files from my free resource library. It's Design #460. There are three different designs for you to choose from:

1. Moon Flower
2. Space Mountain
3. Geo Flare

I’ll show you how to engrave an acrylic keychain with a perfectly placed design, using the Moon Flower SVG from the download file. You can follow the same steps for any of the designs.

Upload the SVG file to Cricut Design Space and add it to your Canvas.



TIP: If you're not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut design space, watch this helpful video training series I made. If you are on an iPad or iPhone, here is how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut design space app.

STEP 2: PREPARE THE DESIGN FILES

This is what my engraved acrylic file looks like in Design Space.



You’ll notice that the lines look really close together and very dark. This is okay and is what we want for engraving. We can zoom in quite a bit to see the design better by using the plus sign on the bottom left of the Canvas. Reposition the image on your Canvas as needed so that it’s in view.



Now you can see the design details much more clearly.

With the image selected, click the field under Operation and select "Engrave."



For this design, I’m using an acrylic keychain blank in the shape of a circle, just about 2" in diameter, so we need to resize the design - we’ll do this in just a moment.

Now click on Shapes in the left column and select a circle in the “free” section. We’ll use this sort of like a template. Let’s resize it to match our blank. Mine is just under two inches. Make sure the lock icon is closed at the top under size before entering the dimensions.

We’ll resize our design to fit inside the circle in a moment, but first it’s time for that “hack” I mentioned earlier. In case you don’t know, a “hack” is really just a simple shortcut, trick or technique that makes getting from A to B a whole lot easier!

In this case it involves changing our circle from “Basic Cut” to “Pen” under “Operation” in the top menu. The “trick” here is that we won’t actually use a pen. You’ll see what I mean in just a bit.

Now, let’s get our design in the circle. With the design selected and the lock icon at the top closed, use the corner of the bounding box to resize the design. 

Now move the design into the circle and play around with the positioning and size. You can zoom in for a closer look. Make sure everything is in the circle, including the petals.

Remember, there’s a tiny hole at the top of the acrylic blank to add the keychain. That doesn’t really matter for this design since there’s no engraving at the top.

Once you are happy with the placement, select both your design and shape, and click "Attach".

That’s it for the Canvas! 

STEP 3: ENGRAVE THE DESIGN

Time to engrave!

Make sure the right machine is selected at the top and click “Make It.”

Here’s where the “pen hack” comes in handy.

Design Space adds a “box” around the outline of the pen layer which shows us the dimensions of the acrylic blank and the position of the design within it. We can use that to drag our design exactly where we want it on the mat and ensure the engraving ends up exactly where we want it on the blank.

If this sounds confusing, let me show you what I mean by showing what happens if we don’t use the “hack.” Click cancel.

Now click “undo” in the top menu to detach the pen circle from the design. Now hide the circle and click “Make It.” We can still move the design, but now we are essentially guessing where it will end up on the blank.  That’s why the “pen hack” is such a game-changer. It shows us the outline of the acrylic blank. So let’s go back and add it back.

Drag the design back into position on the mat using the outline as your guide. The other great thing about this is that you can engrave more than one blank at a time using this method. 

Click on the arrow up next to “project copies” at the top and click “apply.”

Now there are two copies. Of course you can add as many as you like.

Now drag each design into position. I will place both designs one inch down. The first one I’ll place at one inch to the right, the second one I’ll place at 5 inches to the right. I like to leave space so I have enough room to tape the blanks to the mat to hold them in place while they engrave.

Now click “Continue.” 

You may notice some if not all of the materials are grayed out, depending what you have in your favorites. That’s ok. Click “Browse all Materials.” 

In the search window, type “acrylic” and click on “acrylic 1 mm” and “Done.” 

Change the pressure to “More.” 

IMPORTANT: Since we are using the “pen hack” we are not given an option to choose 2 mm acrylic to match the size of our blanks, which would normally be there. That’s totally fine! I switch up materials all the time depending on the project and what I find works best during testing. Every machine is different and sometimes you need to experiment with different settings to get the best results.

In Step 2, you will see “Load Tools and Material” which shows a pen and the engraving tool. You may be thinking to yourself…”But I thought you said we weren’t using a pen?”
You are correct! We aren’t. 

Even though it says to add a pen to “Clamp A” we won’t do that. And that’s perfectly fine! It won’t matter at all as you will see. 

We just want to make sure to add the “Engraving tool” to Clamp B.”

Now let’s add the blanks to the purple strong grip machine mat. First, make sure to remove the protective cover from the disk. It may be on both sides, you can leave the backside on for now, we’ll remove that later. Right now it will protect the back of the blank from the sticky mat. 

Refer back to the screen to make sure the placement is right. 

Remember I placed mine one inch down and left enough room to tape them both down.

Use painter’s tape or masking tape to tape down the edges of the blanks to make sure they stay put. Keep the tape close to the edges so it doesn’t get in the way of the engraving tool when it’s engraving the design.

Before loading the mat, move the star wheels to the far right. Then add the engraving tool to Clamp B. Remember we are not adding anything to Clamp A.

Also, and this is super important: depending on the design you choose, one keychain can take 25-45 minutes to engrave. Make sure that you are prepared by ensuring you have a good internet connection and that you turn off any auto sleep or screen saver functions on your computer. These functions will stop the engraving process and you will need to start over. 

Once you’re ready, load your mat and press the flashing button to start the engraving. 

You’ll first see the machine use the "ghost pen" to "draw" the circle, which is what we want. It’s not actually drawing anything, of course, because you didn’t put a pen in. Then it will continue to the engraving process. 

Since engraving is a more involved process than the usual cutting, I recommend watching your machine during the cut in case any issues arise. 

If you look back at your Design Space screen when the engraving begins you will see this pop up, don’t worry, that’s supposed to be there. It’s just letting you know that when the engrave tool lifts and spins that is what it is supposed to do! 

When your machine has finished engraving, unload the mat and use a soft cloth or lint roller to remove the debris from your acrylic disk. 

This is also a good time to remove debris from your machine and engraving tool as well. You can use a soft cloth or can of compressed air.

Remove the tape and disk from the mat. Brush off any more debris. Remove the other protective film if it’s still in place. This is what my engraved acrylic moon flower design looks like! 

STEP 4: ASSEMBLE YOUR KEYCHAIN

Using jewelry pliers, attach a keychain ring to the acrylic disc.



Attach your choice of tassel (optional).



Done!



VARIATIONS:
Once you have mastered the placement of an engraved design, you can try making several at a time, or even using unique shapes.

STEP 5: SHOW IT OFF

Need a last-minute holiday gift? Your shiny new engraved keychain will make the perfect stocking stuffer! And there are endless ways to customize and adorn the acrylic blanks for a personalized touch.