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Free compass SVG files

Free compass SVG files: compass roses with four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two points, with and without rings, plus a pocket compass, a north arrow and a solid star. Each is drawn by code, so every point sits at its exact bearing.

13 designs. Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with them.

How a compass rose is built

A rose starts with the four cardinal points: north, east, south and west. Halving the angles between them gives eight points, halving again gives sixteen, and once more gives the thirty-two points that sailors used to learn by heart. Each new set is drawn shorter than the last and tucked behind it. Map makers fill one half of every point so the rose reads at a glance, and these files do the same.

In a single colour, the filled half is material and the open half is a hole with a thin outline round it. That outline is the part to watch.

Sizes and materials

Every file is 100 mm across. The outlines round the open halves are between 1.6 and 2.1 mm wide at that size, so the half-filled roses want 80 mm or more in vinyl and 120 mm or more in 3 mm wood. For anything smaller, use the solid compass star, which has no lines at all.

The points end in sharp tips. On vinyl, burnish the tips well before lifting the transfer tape, and lift towards the centre. For an inlay in two woods or two colours of card, cut the rose twice and swap the filled halves.

How to open the files

  • Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
  • Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
  • LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
  • Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
  • Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions

How many points should a compass rose have?

Four is enough to show direction, eight is the usual choice for decoration, and sixteen or thirty-two look like a real chart. More points mean finer parts, so match the count to the size: eight points up to about 100 mm, sixteen or thirty-two for larger pieces.

Why is half of each point filled in?

It is a chart maker’s habit that makes the points stand out and gives a flat drawing some depth, as if each point were a ridge lit from one side. In these files the filled half is always on the same side of every point, so the rose turns evenly.

Which way up does it go?

The four longest points are north, east, south and west, and the plain roses look the same whichever of those is at the top. The designs with an N badge have a fixed top. If you add your own letters, put N over a long point.

More free SVG files