My First Cut - A Sign is Born

I am psyched! My first cut does not look half bad. I took everyone’s advice and set up and utilized ESTL for my first build. First I used inkscape to design the sign and exported it to a dxf format. Then I imported it to ESTL and used the carve feature. It was remarkably easy and I was pleasantly surprised. For the sign, I used 1 by 4 PVC trim board from Lowes. I cut it to size and painted a coat of Blue Krylon Fusion All in One spray paint. To square it i used the jog feature to move the router with a bit and then once the x and y were aligned I marked it with a pencil. I secured it to my waste board using blue tape on the table and the piece adhered with superglue. I used a 1/8" 60 degree v-bit to cut it with the Makita router set to 2.5 (~14K). All in all it came out ok, but I still do not have the feed rate or router rpms dialed in. The long and short of it was my feed rate was way too slow. I increased it to 15 mm/sec and it cut better. Lots to learn.

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Very nice.

Wow, looks great. Be proud for such a great first go!