How to Engrave Personalized Dart Flights with the xTool F2

Darts has never been more popular, and personalized dart flights are cheap and easy to make. All you need is an infrared (IR) or fiber laser. I used the IR laser on the xTool F2, but everything here applies to any IR or fiber laser.

I show you two things: a photo that follows the shape of the flight, and a team logo with a name. They use very different settings, and both are below.

Jump to: The flights · Placement and focus · Material first · Photos · Photo settings · Logos and names · Logo settings

1. The flights

I used K-Flex dart flights. They come in different shapes and lengths. I've got the No. 2 and No. 6 shapes here, both the short versions, and I used the No. 6 short (19 mm) for the demo.

The color matters. Use black or dark flights. Light or transparent ones won't engrave on an IR or fiber laser.

Handle them with care too. They pick up fingerprints very easily, and you want a nice clean surface.

2. Placement and focus

Positioning is one of the biggest challenges. Just placing a flight on the bed is really difficult, and you could use Blu Tack, but you need it exact every time.

I designed a Dart Flight Engraving Jig for this. It slots in place of the F2 base plate and holds the flight flush, horizontal and in the same position every time, so your results are accurate and repeatable. It fits the xTool F1, F2 and F1 Lite.

Focus manually with the knob on the side of the laser head until the two dots join. The middle fin gets in the way, so pull it to one side and focus on the top of the flight.

In xTool Studio, click New project in the top right. You'll hear the F2 beep as it connects, and it takes a photo of the bed. Now look at the focus height on the right. Mine was 19.5 mm. Make a note of yours. Next time, you can just type that number in and skip the manual focus.

3. Pick a material first

Before you import anything, set a material that's similar to what you're engraving. A flight is a black plastic, so click the material box and look for something black and plastic. I recommend 1/20" (1.3 mm) Black to White Laser Engraving in xTool's material library. Click Apply.

Here's why it matters. When you import a photo, Studio adjusts the color, sharpness and contrast to suit the material. Pick the wrong one and the adjustments are wrong too.

4. Photos on flights

A quick note first: only use images you have the rights to. I used a famous darts player in the video for education only. If you sell flights, you need a commercial license for everything on them.

1. Remove the background from your photo first. I used Adobe Express.
2. Click the + to import it. It comes in big. That's fine. Drag it down and zoom in.
3. Use Crop to bring the box as close to the edge of the image as you can. It makes framing more accurate.
4. Position the photo roughly where you want it on the flight.

Make the photo follow the flight

The photo won't fit the flight's shape on its own. Here's the trick I use:

1. Pick the vector pen tool and draw roughly around the edge of the flight. Click, move, click again, all the way around. It doesn't have to be exact.
2. Come back to the start to join it up, then right-click and click Done.
3. Drag a box around the photo and your shape, right-click and choose Create mask.

Now the photo follows the contour of the flight. You can go into much finer detail than I did, and you can still move the photo around inside the shape.

Auto adjust

Select the photo, click Adjust, then Auto adjust. Because you set the material first, Studio knows what to do. It inverts the image, which you need on dark items, and adjusts the contrast, sharpness and brightness.

5. Photo settings

You must use the infrared laser. The blue laser will melt the plastic.

Frame with Outline so you can see it follows the contour and doesn't miss the target (no pun intended). Then click Process. Mine was just 32 seconds. Click Start.

Close the lid or wear laser safety glasses, and have proper extraction running, because plastic can give off fumes.

Engrave all the way around

For a really cool effect, take the flight out, rotate it to the next wing, push it to the back and run the same engraving again. Repeat for each wing and you get a continuous image all the way around the flight.

6. Logos and names

For a logo, I used a dartboard design from Creative Fabrica, which has a lot of designs ready for commercial use.

1. Put a new flight in the jig and click the camera icon to update the picture.
2. Import the logo and drag it as big as the flight allows.

Notice that a vector logo or text gives you power, speed and lines per cm on the right, while a photo gives you dot duration, power and DPI. That's why they need different settings.

Turn an image into a vector

Here's the trick. I wanted my name in a fancy script, and I had it as an image (you could do the same with a photo of a signature). An image gets image settings, which aren't what you want here.

1. Select the image and click Trace in the top toolbar.
2. The defaults usually give a good outline. Click Save.
3. Drag the new vector away from the original and set it to Engrave.

It looks identical, but now it has vector settings, which are much easier to engrave. Delete the original image, then shrink the name and place it.

Add curved team text

1. Click the text tool, type your text (I put L3D Team) and set it to Engrave.
2. Pick a font. I used Aclonica.
3. Center it, then use the curve control to bend it around the logo.

That's a personalized flight in a couple of minutes. Change the name for each person on a team.

7. Logo and text settings

No image processing needed here. Select everything and apply the settings. These weren't easy to get right:

That gives a nice white, contrasting logo. Frame it as before, then process and engrave. Both dart flight settings are in my free Laser Settings Library and on the xTool F2 settings page.

Over to you

This is a great one to add to a laser business. If you have a question, ask in the comments on the video.