Happy Xmas Sign 12 Projects of Christmas

My version of this was made from some very low quality ply-wood which I would probably not recommend as a particularly good choice, although the finished result looked OK after a bit of filler and sanding!

The design for this was inspired by a child’s name plaque I demonstrated at this years User Group meeting. It produces a nice affect with the letters, making them look like they overlap each other, giving it a bit more visual depth.

To make this work you’ll need material which will hold together well even when cut fairly thinly and ideally resist tearout, you can see a few areas on the one I made where this occured.

The toolpaths are setup as follows and should be adjusted accordingly.
The first toolpath is a simple profile with the 90 degree V-bit which creates the contrast for the letter edges.
Second I pocketed the slots – these need to accommodate the tabs on the bottom of the letters which protrude 0.5” from the base. I set the depth of cut to 0.51” to allow for a bit of room – you may need more if you plan to glue this. In addition there is a negative allowance on this toolpath (-0.015) to overcut the pockets slightly to allow the parts to fit together easily. You should adjust this as appropriate for your material and finish.

Third is the toolpath to cut the top of the tab down – for this you need to be aware of material thickness and the fact the slots measure 0.6” top to bottom. As Material thickness is 0.7” I set this up to pocket down 0.1” to leave the required 0.6” thickness to fit.
The fourth toolpath is optional depending on your material and how you’re holding the part down. I was using tabs but wanted to avoid having to add/remove tabs in all the internal areas of the design. To do this I decided to pocket almost through the material so when I cut these pieces out, the material was thin enough to go into the dust collection without damaging the tool. This does take a few additional minutes to cut, so adds time to manufacture and if you not using tabs then this is probably not necessary. How far you cut down would depend on your material and making sure you leave a very thin part to cut-out.

The last toolpath is a simple profile cut with appropriate tabs to hold the piece in place.
Other than the V-Bit all toolpaths use a 0.25” End Mill (I used a down-cut spiral) which can be output as a single file for convenience. If you scale this part up or down please switch on all Layers and edit all vectors simultaneously, also be aware the T-bone fillets are set up at this size for the 0.25” diameter tool so may need to be edited if changing size.

Before cutting this I sprayed the material with some silver paint, you could choose any finish which when cut through will create contrast with the machined areas. There will be some material left in the internal corners by the difference in tool radius and shape – this can be left or cleaned out manually. Personally I see this as a nice shelf display which won’t be examined to closely so can be a bit rough round the edges but that’s probably just laziness making the justification...