Answers
Can I make miniature house SVG files for a Glowforge?
Yes. Design the house in Houscaper, then Export gives you SVG sheets sized in millimeters with a red CUT layer and a blue ENGRAVE layer, which you upload to the Glowforge app like any other SVG. Pick the 300 × 400 mm sheet and enter the board thickness you measured; 3.2 mm (1/8") is a preset.
Figures checked against Houscaper’s export settings on .
Settings to pick in Export
- Sheet size: 300 × 400 mm, the narrowest preset. Parts are nested inside a 10 mm margin, so they sit within about 280 × 380 mm.
- Stock: the thickness you measured with calipers. 3.2 mm (1/8") is the usual US board; 1 mm and 2 mm presets are there for thinner stock.
- Scale: 1:30 by default. A smaller scale such as 1:50 makes smaller parts that fit on fewer sheets.
Uploading to the Glowforge app
Upload each sheet SVG. The app splits the design into steps by color, so the blue ENGRAVE paths and the red CUT paths arrive as separate steps. Set the blue step to engrave or score and the red step to cut.
Check the 50 mm bar at the bottom left of the sheet against the ruler in the app. If it is not 50 mm, the file was scaled on the way in.
Before you cut, confirm every part sits inside the printable area shown in the app. The sheet is slightly larger than a typical Glowforge cut area, so you may need to move an edge part inward.
Fit before you cut the whole house
Cut the fit coupon from the ZIP on a scrap of the same board first. Paths are nominal, so set your kerf offset in the Glowforge app if the slots are loose, and only then run the full sheets.
Open the Houscaper workshop and set these options in Export. The full walkthrough is in the laser-cut dollhouse guide.