Carving a CNC Sign

Find a Great Piece of Wood

• It doesn’t have to be huge, think about where it’s going to hang when it’s finished.
• Make sure it’s planed smooth and isn’t full of loose knots or cracks.
• Plywood or particle board makes good indoor signs only.

Find a computer and Open

• Create a New File
• Measure the usable size of the piece.
• Enter the Width, Height, and Thickness

Width

Height

• It is critical to have the Z zero Position at the Material Surface.

XY Datum Position Always

in the lower Left

Select the Text tool and place text.

• Names are always capitalized
• Check Spelling
• Keep it Classy

Pick a readable font that you like,

block fonts carve deeper,

don’t get too crazy here.

Adjust the size of your Text

Click Close when you’re finished

Inserting a Graphic

• Find a classy black and white image with good contrast.  Not too much detail.
• Line art and silhouettes work well.
• Right Click
• Copy image
• Paste into Vcarve pro.

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Tracing the Image

• Select the bitmap or Picture
• Use the trace bitmap feature.
• Preview the trace.
• If it looks good, Click Apply at the bottom left of the page.
• Delete the original image so only the vectors (lines) remain.

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Clean up the image

• First Un Group it

Delete anything you don’t need.

If you have pixels or an unclear

Image, find something else.

Adjust size of image and text for the best look

• Select image or text
• Always click on a corner box to avoid distorting the image or text.

Click on a blue box to rotate.

You can arch text using this tool.

Click and hold the green box, drag up or down.

Check Alignment

• Select the text or image
• Click on the alignment tool

Center each item as needed

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Click Close when ready

Laser Engraving this sign?

(If not skip this page.)

• Draw a rectangle the same size as your piece of wood.

To save to go to the Laser engravers.

Click File, then Export, Then DXF

You’ll need a USB drive, be sure

to select that drive before you click save

Find a Pro and go to the Laser Engraver

Carving your Design

• Select everything
• Click on the toolpath tab
• Select Vcarve toolpath

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• Turn the page this next part is complicated.

• Start Depth always 0.0
• Flat depth is .25 less than the thickness of your material.
• We typically use 60 degree or 90 degree V-bits here.

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• If you have large empty spaces in your text or image you may need a ¼” straight bit also.

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• Ask Mr. Gary or an Experienced student before clicking Calculate.

Preview your Toolpath

• Click on the preview all toolpaths tab

Make sure everything looks

good and click close.

Saving your Work

• YOU HAVE TO SAVE TWO WAYS
• To save for the Shopbot, click here on the toolpath and put it on a USB Drive.

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• To save the file so you can edit it later if needed, and Mr. Gary can Preview it click here. Save this way on the Documents.

Find a Pro & cut your Sign on the

Made by Adin G :)