Ended up snagging a design from “An Encyclopaedia of monograms” by James O’Kane (1884)
I followed @Archie’s general instructions and everything went really well (Except for accidentally setting the feed rate to 0% between runs once and getting very confused that the machine would start perfectly but then halt just as it started the first plunge. Thanks to @dannz who spotted this after 30 minutes of me trying to figure out if the issue was in my design, my bit settings, vcarve, or the machine. As usual: it was user error.)
For future discourse reference, these are the amateur numbers used. Better described here: Aluminum on the mini-CNC
Stock
- 6082 Aluminum from metals4u
- 101.6mm x 12.7mm x 101.6mm
Bits
| Bit | shop-apt link | Flutes | Pass Depth | Stepover | Spindle Speed | Feed Rate | Plunge Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4mm End Mill | shop-apt link | 1 | 2mm | 40% | 11000 rpm | 950 mm/min | 160 mm/min |
| 1mm End Mill | shop-apt link | 1 | 0.5mm | 40% | 13000 rpm | 450 mm/min | 160 mm/min |
| 3.175mm Engraving Bit | shop-apt link | 1 | 0.2mm | 40% | 22000 rpm | 400 mm/min | 125 mm/min |
VCarve Process
- I first did a large 0.5mm depth pocket carve that covered the whole face to level it off.
- Then used the
vcarve/engravingtoolpath with the above bits as “Clearing Bits” with a starting depth of 0.5mm and a cutting depth of 1mm.