Channel letter returns for Adobe Illustrator · Mac
Select the letter, choose the material and the return depth. EdgeMaker draws every strip with its length measured where the material bends, each bend and curve marked, the joints where they don’t show and the face and back that fit. Then it tells you the meters, the sheets and the minutes.
Illustrator 2020 and newer · Mac · English and Spanish
01 / The strip
A strip is not as long as the outline it wraps: the material bends around its own thickness. EdgeMaker measures each strip on the neutral axis, with the K of your material. The outer strip of this 300 mm R is cut at 1,337.4 mm; cut to its outline, 1,348.1 mm, it would come out 10.7 mm long.
The engine
Each station takes care of one place where a return usually goes wrong, and tells you in material and minutes what it kept.
A fixed allowance per bend, the same for 90° or 20°, for aluminium or acrylic. The error adds up corner by corner and shows at the last joint.
Every bend and every curve counts with its own angle, radius and K. The strip is cut to what it will measure once bent.
mm per stripOnly sharp corners get a line. Curves are left to the eye of whoever bends, and the letter is assembled by trial.
Bends, curves with their start, end, radius and direction, V grooves, joints and the start, engraved or drawn on the strip.
bends · curves · jointsA strip longer than the machine is cut at a fixed length, wherever it lands: on a curve, next to a bend.
It splits where the joint is easy and hidden: on a straight stretch, at least 13 mm from any bend, with the fewest pieces.
pieces per outlineFace and back are drawn apart from the return, and the face comes out tight or loose.
They come from the same model as the strip, with the clearance written down: the face goes in. Bigger than the machine, they split into panels.
clearance · panelsNobody knows the meters of strip, the sheets or the bending minutes until the letter is done.
Meters of strip, m², machine loads, sheets, bends, grooves and minutes per machine, before anything is cut.
m · m² · sheets · minEach machine and each pair of hands bends its own way, and the correction is found by trial and error on real letters.
One test strip per material and machine sets your K, and the bender offset is a number in Settings.
K per material and machineBefore a letter reaches the machine, you already have its account in material and time: meters of strip, m², machine loads, sheets, bends, grooves and minutes. The price is yours to set.
02 / Materials
Thickness is a free field: gauges are shortcuts, because the same gauge measures differently in each metal. Each material bends, joins and is marked its own way, and each machine keeps its own calibration.
CalibrationEach machine with its own cutting area, speeds, bit or beam, and K. One test strip per material calibrates it, and the bender offset is a number in Settings.
03 / Cutting
If your software cuts in the order the file comes, the file has to come in order. EdgeMaker delivers it that way: engravings and grooves first, then holes, counters and outlines, with the compensation already in the drawing.
04 / Face & back
The face and the back come from the same model as the return, with the clearance written down, so the face goes in. The back carries what mounting needs.
How it works
Select the outlined letters in Illustrator and press Read selection. Live text, an open path or a locked layer: the panel says what to do.
Paths, compound paths and groups are read as they are, with their Béziers. Each letter is named and its counters found; two outlines that cross are stopped before calculating.
Material and thickness, return depth, outside or inside, and the joint. The machine brings its cutting area, speeds and calibration.
Metal gauge 16 to 24, acrylic 2 and 3 mm, ACM 3 and 4 mm, PVC for backs. Fields and readings in mm, cm, m, in or ft.
The preview shows every strip, face and back. ▶ Cut and ▶ Assembly play them, Measure gives the dimensions and Expand opens them in a big window.
Every warning names the letter and what to do. Thirteen outputs, each with its own switch: turning one off removes its drawing and its time, never the calculation.
Draw places strips, face and back in Illustrator, in layers by color, one artboard per machine load, with the count. The fabrication sheet goes to the bench.
And the fabrication sheet in PDF for whoever bends: the job, its count, how to read the strips, assembly order and warnings, and one page per strip with its bends numbered and their direction, curves, START, joint, ruler and its piece of the letter. Letter or A4, in the panel’s unit.
Computed with the EdgeMaker engine for an R in Arial Bold, 300 mm tall, in 20-gauge aluminium with a 100 mm return outside, welded, on the fibre laser, with the panel’s factory settings.
Pricing
Strips that close, marks that say where to bend and minutes you know before cutting. Monthly or yearly, cancel anytime.
7-day free evaluation, full panel unlocked, no card needed. After that, $9.99 a month or $99 a year, renewed automatically. Cancel anytime from the panel or the Lemon Squeezy portal.
Type it as it will be cut. Every letter was calculated with the EdgeMaker engine.
How it’s calculated: each letter and number of Arial Bold, with a 10 cm return outside and the panel’s factory settings, was run through the EdgeMaker engine at 15, 30, 50, 80 and 100 cm; your height is interpolated between the two nearest. Your font, return and machine change the figure: the panel gives you the exact one before cutting.
Before you start
If your question is not here, write to us. We answer with what to do next.
Illustrator 2020 and newer on macOS, tested on Illustrator 2025 with Apple Silicon. Windows is on the way.
Download the installer from the email and open it. Until Apple’s official signature is ready, macOS asks for permission once: the disk has an “Allow · Permitir” shortcut that opens Privacy & Security, where you click Open Anyway. Step-by-step guide with every screen →
No, and it tells you so with what to do: create outlines. Once outlined, each letter is read with its curves and its counters.
It starts from the K of each material and thickness in published tables. Your shop bends its own way: one test strip per material and machine calibrates it, and from then on EdgeMaker uses your K.
No. EdgeMaker prepares strips that are bent by hand or on a manual bender, with every bend and curve marked where it goes. It does not send files to automatic benders.
Fibre laser for metal, CO₂ laser for acrylic and CNC router for ACM and PVC, each with its cutting area, speeds and bit or beam. The file comes in cut order for LightBurn, with layers by color.
To activate and, from then on, to confirm the license. The panel does that on its own when it opens with internet, and cerostress.updater renews it even when Illustrator is closed or blocked; offline, it keeps working for up to seven days. This is not a charge: the subscription is billed monthly or yearly.
Never. Your letters, strips and settings stay on your computer. The only thing that reaches our servers is what the license needs.
The next letter is yours
Five minutes to install. Your first 7 days are free.