Why use a Voronoi pattern for a carbon fiber top plate?

Voronoi patterns remove material in low-stress regions while maintaining a connected structure. This can reduce weight while preserving stiffness and distributing loads more evenly.

How do I make the pattern manufacturable?

Increase Cell Gap to leave material between cells, set a Min Cell Area to avoid tiny slivers, and use Smooth Iterations to soften sharp corners. Always leave a margin from the outer edge using Outer Offset.

Can I export to DXF for CNC or laser cutting?

Yes. Upload your outline as DXF, generate the pattern, then export to DXF for use in your CAM workflow.

Why I Built a Voronoi DXF Generator for My Antweight Combat Robot

Published November 6, 2025 · 5 min read

I built this tool because I needed a reliable way to generate a Voronoi pattern to reduce weight in a carbon fiber top plate for an antweight combat robot. Off-the-shelf generators either lacked control over geometry, produced unmanufacturable results, or didn’t export clean DXF suitable for CAM.

Voronoi pattern preview — A clean Voronoi pattern with controllable cell size, margins, and smoothing.

Design Goals

Reduce weight without creating weak, elongated cutouts.
Keep a safe margin from the outer edge and around hardware holes.
Export clean DXF for CNC/laser with predictable dimensions.
Quickly iterate with deterministic settings and a reproducible RNG seed.

Why Voronoi?

Voronoi cells form an organic, connected structure that can remove material from low-stress regions while maintaining overall stiffness. With controls like Poisson disk spacing and optional Lloyd relaxation, it’s possible to tune cell size and uniformity for both aesthetics and strength.

Workflow I Used

Outline: Export the panel outline (and mounting holes) as a clean DXF.
Upload: Drop the DXF into the tool and enable “Use Holes.”
Margins: Set Outer Offset to keep material near edges, and Inner Offset to grow keep-outs around holes.
Seeds: Choose a Poisson Radius for approximate cell size; add Lloyd Iterations for uniformity.
Manufacturability: Increase Cell Gap, set Min Cell Area, and cap Max Aspect Ratio to avoid flimsy features.
Smoothing: Apply Smooth Iterations to round sharp corners and ease toolpaths.
Export: Download DXF and proceed with your CAM workflow.

Practical Tips

Start with a larger Poisson radius and decrease gradually until you reach your target weight.
Use a small but non-zero Cell Gap to maintain clear webs between cells.
Test settings on offcuts before committing to a final panel.

Try it yourself: Open the Voronoi DXF Generator