Pocketplate

About Pocketplate

Pocketplate makes jigs: plates with pockets that hold many identical blanks in exact positions while a UV printer or a laser personalizes them. It is built for small shops that run keychains, coasters, tags, cases and golf balls in batches and are tired of redrawing a jig for every new blank.

How the generator works

  • Pocket outline. The blank's outline (rectangle, rounded rectangle, circle, ellipse, capsule or your SVG) is grown by the clearance on every side. Finger notches and dog-bone corners are added as true circle unions, so the outline stays one clean closed path.
  • Layout. The engine tries 0° and 90°, a straight grid and staggered rows, and keeps the one with the most pockets that still leaves your web between pockets and your margin to the plate edge. Staggered row spacing comes from the true distance between neighbouring outlines, not their bounding boxes. You can fix the rows or columns yourself.
  • Files. The SVG is written in millimetres (width, height and viewBox agree) with a 0.025 mm red cut layer and a blue engrave layer in single-stroke lettering. The DXF is AutoCAD R12 in millimetres. The 3MF and STL come from an ear-clipped top face with the pockets as holes, plus walls and floors that share every vertex, so the mesh is watertight; automated tests check that every edge is used exactly twice and that the volume equals the plate minus the pockets.
  • Templates. The alignment template places blank outlines, bleed, safe area and centre crosshairs where the plate sits in the work area. The PNG version stores its DPI in the file so printer software imports it at true size.

Where the numbers come from

The 35 machine work areas come from manufacturer specification pages and manuals (checked 2026-10-17). Each preset links to its source; where a manufacturer's own pages disagree, the smaller figure is used, and generic fiber-laser lens fields are marked as typical values. The 32 blank sizes come from manufacturer specs, standards (ISO/IEC 7810 for card size, the R&A and USGA Rules of Equipment for golf balls) and blank-supplier listings (checked 2026-10-17). Corner radii are rarely published, so those marked as estimates should be measured. Starting clearances follow the table in the clearance guide: a starting point for the test-fit coupon, not a guarantee.

Limits

  • The generator does not know your blanks. Supplier tolerances, coatings and hand-cut materials vary, so cut the coupon first.
  • Machine software changes. If an SVG imports at the wrong size, use the DXF or check the import DPI setting.
  • It makes flat jigs. Wrap-around work on tumblers and pens needs a rotary attachment.
  • Check your machine's own limits on object height and weight before loading a full plate.

Contact

Join the beta list on any page and reply to the welcome email; it reaches the people who build Pocketplate.