Free Jigsaw Puzzle Maker
Turn any photo into a laser-ready jigsaw puzzle — classic interlocking tabs, exports SVG with cut + engrave layers. No signup.
About the Jigsaw Puzzle Maker
Turn any photo into a laser-ready custom jigsaw puzzle in your browser — no account, no software install. Upload an image (it stays on your device), pick an approximate piece count from 9 to 300, set the board width (and, if you want, a custom height) up to 400 mm, and reshuffle tab orientation until you like the layout. Advanced adds a board shape — rectangle, soft corners, round, hexagon or heart — and a tab-variety dial that mixes four interlock families so an engraved puzzle stays solvable. Export a single SVG: a cut layer with the outer border and every interlocking seam, plus an engrave layer carrying your photo as a raster bitmap. Ready for LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, Glowforge, LaserGRBL, or any laser software.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this easier than the old print-and-glue jigsaw method?
Making a jigsaw puzzle the traditional way meant printing your photo, gluing it onto a wood base, and cutting through both layers at once — and the paper often peeled or shifted mid-cut, leaving torn, misaligned pieces and a ruined board. That trips up a lot of first-time makers. This tool removes the glue step entirely: the laser engraves your photo straight into the wood and cuts the pieces in the same job, so the image can’t detach. You get a clean, permanent result on the first try — plus the satisfying experience of running both an engrave and a cut in a single project. No engraver? The print-and-glue route is still here as a fallback.
What does the SVG export contain?
Two color-separated layers: a cut layer (red strokes by default) for the outer border and every interior jigsaw seam, and an engrave layer containing your uploaded image embedded as a raster bitmap. Most laser software (LightBurn, LaserGRBL, xTool Creative Space, Glowforge) treats different colors as different operations.
Can I make the picture without a laser engraver?
Yes. Use the “Download picture” button to download the photo at the exact board size, print it on a regular paper printer at 100% (actual size, not “fit to page”), and glue it to your blank board with a thin, even layer of glue. Let it dry, then run the laser cut — it slices through the board and the glued photo together into finished, picture-perfect pieces. This way you only need a laser cutter, not an engraver. Tip: in Advanced you can turn off “Engrave image on export” so the exported SVG is just cut lines. Boards wider than your paper will span several sheets, so scale the board down to fit if you want it on one page.
Can I make a round, hexagon or heart-shaped puzzle?
Yes. Advanced → Board shape offers Rectangle, Soft corners, Round, Hexagon and Heart. Round follows the board’s proportions: a circle on a square board, an oval on a wide one. The hexagon is Designer Bee’s own honeycomb and is always a true regular hexagon — six equal sides at any board size — so it sits centred, filling the board exactly at a 7:6 ratio. The interior seams are clipped to the outline, so pieces along the rim get a curved outer edge, and the engrave layer is masked to the shape so the laser puts no burn on the offcut. Because a shaped board only fills part of its bounding box, the piece count is approximate — the grid is scaled up to land near the number you asked for, and a few rim slivers merge into their neighbours so no piece is too small to hold.
Why vary the tab shapes?
An engraved puzzle is monochrome, so large areas of sky, water or shadow carry very few picture cues. With identical tabs on every edge, the pieces in those areas are nearly interchangeable and a wrong piece can feel like a correct fit. Advanced → Tab style mixes four interlock families — classic, keyhole, wave and spur — at varied sizes, so each joint is mechanically distinctive and a wrong piece visibly refuses to seat. The Challenge preset defaults high for exactly this reason; Toddler leaves it off since 16 chunky pieces need no extra cues. Tabs are never cut thinner than 2.5 mm of material, so the variety never costs you a snapped piece.
What thickness of material should I use?
3mm plywood or MDF is the sweet spot for jigsaw puzzles — thick enough to feel solid in hand, thin enough to cut quickly with most diode and CO₂ lasers. For finer pieces (under 8mm), drop to 2mm to keep the kerf from eating away the tabs.
Will the pieces actually interlock?
Yes — the tab geometry uses classic narrow-neck / wide-head shapes so adjacent pieces snap together. Tab direction is randomized so neighboring edges always have one knob and one socket. Watch your laser kerf: if your machine cuts a wide line, increase the piece size so the kerf doesn't loosen the fit.
Do I need to create an account?
No. The Jigsaw Puzzle Designer is browser-based and completely free. No sign-up and no account, and your photo never leaves your device. Designer Bee keeps only anonymous usage stats, like which settings get exported, to keep improving the tools.
