My Design Software Vectric   Aspire latest version
My Desk top CNC Router ShopBot Tools Desk Top 24 by 18
My Band Saw Mill Woodland Mills My HM126T

This is a piece of Black Cherry from our woodlot in Huron County Ontario Canada. I cut the tree, used my Woodlands Sawmill to cut the log to boards, air dried for 3 years and this piece is 13" X by 6" Y and about inch and sixtheenth Z.

The board is twisted, not flat and true as you can see the gap between the spoilboard and material.

This has never been a problem, I wedge the two corners to try and make the board as flat as I can. See all the holes drilled into my spoilboard" they are 2" apart X and Y so when I am programming doublesided I place my alignment pegs in the material to align with the spoilboard. I always flip my material on the X .

In this photo you can see the material is held close to the spoilboard with no gap. You will also notice how I cut a notch in the corner of my material with the table saw wide enough to accept the metal clip I have made, this allows me to machine the complete top surface without the tool bit being damaged.

When building my design using Vectric Aspire I have found that zeroing my design and my material when machining to the centre of my material, no particular reason, I just find it simpler and consistant.

My ShopBot 24X18 desktop CNC machine uses a aluminim plate and built in software to zero the cutter to the top surface, works great.

I also use a piece of paper to zero with but the paper may be 0.004 thick but in just rough surfacing 4 thou is nothing to be conserned about .

This is the first toolpath completed. I made a pocketing file about half an inch larger than my material and set the cut depth to 0.020 and as you can see, I only hit the high spots.

Now that I know where the high spots are on the material, I also know where the low spots are and this is where I will zero the next toolpath.

So here we are with the top planed or surfaced flat, now to drill the alignment holes, I use ¼ wood dowels, cheap and easy to get.

After drilling the alignment holes in the material, it was removed and I drilled the alignment holes in the spoilboard and marked them with RED crayon.

YUP this is my spoilboard, what a mess, however it is still flat and the alignment holes and dowels are circuled by photo editing so you can see them.

So with the material flat side down I can run the same pocketing toolpath and surface the area flat.

Yes I know, I 90° "V" carved the text Euchre from the top material surface projecting the text to the 3D profile. This way I feel there is less chance of bits of wood chipping out of the delicate text areas.

The lid of the Euchre box is radiused and here I use a ¼" Ball nose carbide 2 flute bit.
That Black Cherry is beautiful wood to work with, much like Sugar Maple

See how nice and clear the text is. No chipping.

Here I am using a 1/8" end mill drilling to ½" depth projected to the 3D toolpath.
from Material Z surface

With the peg holes drilled the next toolpath is numbers, text, and border I use the same bit to pocket the suit ♣ ♥ ♠ ♦ , locations to about 0.070" , the plastic laminate I use for the suit's is the engraving material used for name tags and ID badges usually about 0.063" thick.

I use the same bit to cut the suit's from the laminate sheet. The bit is 1/8" shaft and the cutting edge is single flute carbide I purchased from off shore, it will cut about 0.050" per pass and only about .100" deep.
The laminate suit pieces are not in position, just sitting there for this photo.

The lid top is now complete.

Material flipped over on the X axis the bottom or inner of the lid is pocketed ¼" end mill.

just a close up of the inner part of the lid.

With the same endmill I pocket the lip that will fit into the base and the portion that will fit into the area where the pegs are kept.

This is the base of the box and the pocketed area is machined with the same ¼" carbide 2 flute flat bottom endmill.

Inside the lid is V carved text that reads
“ Playing Euchre is a lot like sex . . .
if you don't have a good partner.
Then you better have a good hand ! ! ”.

The green masking tape indicates with an arrow where 3mm holes are drilled in the base and lid to accept 3mm by 3mm magnets I buy off shore.

With the cut out toolpath complete using the same ¼" EM and using regular tabs, I am ready to remove the piece from its hold down and cut the tabs.

There is the lid.

There is the base.

Lid and base no magnets.

Fits together nice and snug.

This is just a clear coat, no stain.
The plastic laminate pieces ♣ ♥ ♠ ♦ fit so snug that I don't have to use adhesive, but I use a dab of Locktite 404

Side by side.

Close up of base.

Some times when I use a lighter wood like White Ash or Sugar Maple I will use a light brown stain then clear coat.

Lid with pegs indicating
Clubs are TRUMP for this hand
Red team has 4 points
Black team has 7 points
Red team has won 3 games
Black team has won 2 games.

Box open with Cards and pegs in place.

In most cases I don' need the magnets to hold the lid in place, the lid and base are a very good friction fit, but, I do it anyway.