Cylinder Wrap Compensator

Engraving setup

Which way it wraps

Geometry

Cylinder diameter mm

Wrap length on surface mm

Wrap angle deg

Length along axis mm

Set axis length from the image's aspect ratio

Image & output

Output resolution dpi

Render quality

Flattening tolerance mm

Flatten transparency to white

Save

With an SVG source the SVG and PDF saves are real warped vector paths; anything else exports as pixels. Place output at 100% and centre on the highest point of the cylinder.

Numbers

Circumference	—
Developed wrap	—
Wrap angle	—
Head travel (chord)	—
Scale at edge	—
Source detail	—
Export geometry	—
Surface drop at edge	—
Output file	—
Output size	—

Source artwork nothing loaded

Drop artwork here or choose a file — AI, PDF, SVG, PNG, JPG or WebP.
Treat it as the flat, undistorted design you want to see on the finished part.
.ai files need “Create PDF Compatible File” ticked when they were saved.

Corrected for engraving —

Cross-section looking down the axis

engraved surface head travel equal steps on the surface

Why the file gets narrower

The head moves in a straight line, but the surface under it curves away. A point sitting s mm around the surface from the top sits only R·sin(s/R) mm across in machine X — so every millimetre of travel covers more and more surface as you move off centre. Pre-squeezing the file by the same amount puts the marks back where you want them once they are measured around the curve.

Two things get worse together as the wrap angle grows: the surface drops away from focus, and the beam or cutter meets it at an angle. Past about 60° total most setups need a rotary axis instead.

Illustrator SVG export settings

▲ Required for correct sizing Use these settings when saving SVG from Illustrator:

SVG Profiles: SVG 1.1
Fonts Type: SVG · Subsetting: None (Use System Fonts)
Image Location: Link · Uncheck Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities
CSS Properties: Style Elements · Decimal Places: 4
Uncheck Responsive — required so the file carries its physical mm dimensions
In the export dialog tick Use Artboards — this embeds the correct artboard size