Welcome to the first of our Tips & Tricks for Laser Engraving & UV Printing

Formula for Engraving a Circle on a Cylinder

Problem: Circles appear oval when engraving on a tumbler

Solution: Use math formula involving viewable area, arcs, radians, radii, and other fun math terms you probably never wanted to know.

Better Solution: Skip the math and use our calculator.

The old engraving rule of adding 5-10% to the art width isn't hard and fast - it depends on both the size of the tumbler and the size of the logo. If you're wrapping on a non-cylinder, like a 20 oz tumbler, measure the diameter at the center point of where the logo will go for best results.

Instructions:

1. Enter the diameter of your drinkware in the first orange box.
2. Enter the desired visual width of your art in the second orange box.
3. Our calculator will output both the actual width to engrave and the percentage to widen your art. You can choose whichever is easier.

4. Please note: this calculator was developed for logos small enough to be visible from a front-facing photo. It  hasn't been tested on logos that would wrap out of the field of view of a camera.

   For best results, please print the logo at the width suggested on a printer cut it out, and wrap on your drinkware to make sure it looks like you want it.

Tip: Make sure your software's option to scale equally is off. If you are drawing a 2.5" circle, you'll want the height to stay 2.5" while increasing the width to 2.67". We prefer to work in percentages. In Illustrator, if you type *1.07 after the width in your dimensions box, it is the same thing as multiplying it by 107%.

Overview: When printing a shape onto a cylinder or cone, while it may be mathematically circular or square - visually, it won't be. Circles turn into ovals and squares become rectangles.

Most of the large companies we've researched do not compensate for the visual curve. For a great example of a company that doesn't adjust for distortion, look at a can of your favorite red, white, and blue cola with a round logo (rhymes with Shmepsi and is our caffeinated beverage of choice). Their logo is a circle, but on their cans, it looks more oval.

Many of our customers prefer visually round logos, so our formula compensates for the visual distortion to make it perfect.