Sign

CNC Sign

What You Need

MATERIALS

Wood (0.5 in thick, size of your choosing)
Paint (colors of your choosing)*optional*
Masking tape
Sander/ sandpaper

EQUIPMENT

Computer (of your choosing)
CNC machine

SOFTWARE

Adobe Illustrator
Fusion 360

Step 1

MAKE A DESIGN

Creating your design is an important step because there are a lot of factors that you have to think about for your design. Your design should include some type of word/lettering and an original design. You also have to think about how you want your design to be cut. There has to be a continuous outline and you will have to decide what is cut out and what is wood. This takes careful consideration and should be planned out before you begin. Once you get your design planned out on paper you can begin designing on Adobe Illustrator.

Step 2

DESIGN IN ADOBE

To begin designing in adobe illustrator you should create a new artboard that is around the size you think you will want your sign to be (in inches). Then you can begin designing using the curvature or pen tool, depending on your design. Then you can create your lettering. To type in Adobe you click the "text box" and type in the lettering you want. Then you select your text and press "create outline". Then place your text where you want on the design. Then you will shape build so that all the outlines will combine to make one sillowette.

Step 3

EXPORT INTO FUSION 360

Now that you have one continuous shape you can export your design to fusion. To do this you will have to save it as a dxf file, then in fusion, import the dxf file from your downloads. You will need to import your design as a sketch in fusion on the x,y plane. Then you will select the sketch and extrude it 0.5 inches (or the depth of the wood you are using).

Step 4

PREPARING YOUR STOCK IN FUSION 360

You now have a 3d model of your design and you have to prepare your model to be cut by the CNC machine. You have to create a new sketch of a rectangle around your model with room on all sides around your model. Before you finish your sketch make note of the dimensions of the rectangle because this will be the size of your stock (wood). Then extrude the rectangle 0.5in the same direction of your model, the model may look like it disappeared because the rectangle covered it, this is what is supposed to happen. This rectangle represents your stock and the model represents the line that the cnc will be cutting.

Step 5

MANUFACTURE SETUP

Once you've made your model and stock, you will enter the manufacture tab on fusion 360. In this tab you can start your first setup. Here you will set the origin by dragging the origin dot to the bottom left top corner(x bottom, y left, z bottom). then you will select the model and design.

Then you will start a new setup. In this setup you want start a 2D contour and there you will need to select the tool you'll be using. In order to do this you will need to import the tool library with the available tools for the cnc you're using. Once you've downloaded this you can select tool 6 (the 1/4in bit) in the setup menu. Then you go to the geometry tab of the setup. *Note: this will be easier if you turn the viewing of your stock off* In this tab you will press silhouette; select, then you will select the outline of your model on the bottom side of the model.

Then you will go to the post processing tab and check that the number is 1001 and that your project is named. You can then finish this set up and close the tab.

Step 6

2D CONTOUR

This step is all about telling the bit where to go and what lines to follow. At this point you should have already selected the outline for the first part of the 3D contour. You need to edit this first run. The first edit you will make is you will scroll down and select "multiple depths" and a dropdown will come come down. There you will change the maximum roughing to 0.125in (half the size of the bit), finishing stepdowns to 4, and the rest of the options can stay at the default. the second edit you will make for this 2D contour is selecting stock to leave and changing the radial stock to leave to 0.06in. This will leave room for you to make a finishing pass that cleans up the edges around your sign. then you can press ok to save this 2D contour.

You will then make a new 2D contour and select bit #3 (the 1/8in bit) then select the geometry tool to get your silhouette. then you can go into the passes tab and select multiple depth and change max roughing to 0.0625in (half of the bit size). You can leave the rest of the tabs at default and press ok to save. this 2D contour is a finishing pass that will clean up the edges of your sign and get into the smaller spaces the bigger bit couldn't cut.

Note: There might be a warning on the first 2D contour. This is ok it just means that the bit of that 2D contour wont get to all the small spaces of your design, which is why we have the second 2D contour.

Step 7

POST PROCESSING

At this point your sign is almost ready to be sent to the CNC machine. All your setup and 2D contours should be ready and set. if you want to check that that is all good you can stimulate the job and check that the sign looks how you want it to will the 2D contour.

The first step of post processing is downloading the post processor to fusion. Once it is added to your post library you will go into the post processing tab, which is located to the right of the stimulate tool. once there you will select the post processor you downloaded (centroid), change the number to 1001, and the file name to the same name you saved it as or just a recognizable name for your sign.

Once you have post processed you are completely done and ready to send it to the CNC. You will save your file to your downloads then put it in an email addressed to makerspace@dawsonschool.org (your CNC)

Step 8

SETTING UP THE CNC

Once your job is sent to CNC you have to get your job ready. you will start by taping you stock and the table of your CNC then you will glue the stock to the board where you put the tape and straighten it as much as possible. Then you have to set the origin of the machine. To do this you have to edit the x, y, and z factors of the bit until it's as close as possible to the origin you set on fusion. You want the z to be one papers length away from the stock and then set the x, y, and z to zero so your origin is set. Then you can run your job.

Step 9

FINISHING

Finishing this project is totally variable to your project. You'll probably want to start by sanding the back because the machine will push through the back side of the stock so the back gets very spintery. Then I decided to paint the sign then gloss it to make it shiny and pretty!

Reflection Questions

What went well?

I think most of the design went very well. starting with a clear image in my head and rough sketch made the design process really easy and having experience with adobe really sped that up. At the beginning I had some trouble witht the 3D modeling but after some practice with susion I figured it out. Most of the set up steps were pretty easy to follow so I think that went pretty well too.

What could be improved?

I had some issues with the 2D contour because while printing the first pass went way too many times and made it take extra long. Other than that I think I could improve my efficiency in the 3D modeling phase but I think that will be better next time now that I have used and understand fusion.

What would you do differently if you were to do this project again?

I think this project went pretty smoothly and there's not much that I would change other than improving my fusion things. I might edit my project slightly so that all the edges are cut better and do a better job sanding to get a finer finish.

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