Have FUN! I think you’ll be fascinated watching the machine work. 
And I think you may be on to something just doing it 2D in Estlcam
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I appreciate it @B-26 - truly. I’ve enjoyed reading your input, so I know you are saying this with good - no; great - spirit behind it. Cheers!
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I would add, don’t forget if you’re a little uncomfortable with something you can always ‘air run’ it without a bit in the router and there’s always good old foam insulation board to play with. You’re already down the rabbit hole, may as well play with the rabbits. 
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I was at a fancy outdoor reception once and they gave us platterS like this but the hole had a small slot so you could slide a wine glass stem through - solving the problem of how to eat, drink and stand at the same time.
Looks like a fun project. I may get inspired too. Make sure to slow your results.
I guess I’ll ask, should I opt to use just a 2d into CAM then Repetier or try to fight it out with F360?
A few quick thoughts
I thought there was a way to use F360 as a CAM then export?
In both Fusion 360 and EstlCAM, you export g-code. You will need a post processor to export from Fusion 360. Don has one based on the earlier guffy one, but it is still beta. The guffy one has been around a long time, but due to recent changes in the Personal version of Fusion 360, you will need to limit the Z feedrate to make it work properly. EstlCAM is the easier pathway for starting out.
I have a box of material for this plate
I’d practice with cheap stuff to start. A 4’ x 8’ x 1" foam will run about $17. A 4’ x 8’ x 5mm underlayment will run about $13. Lots of material to work things out before cutting something expensive.
(terrible to get into the hobby side now with them pushing the full version on you
The Fusion 360 just released the final changes it listed back in August for its changes to the Fusion 360 for Personal Use license. I find it still very usable for my projects. I do miss a couple of things though.
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I have to confess that while I did play with 360 a bit, I never really got comfortable with it. If you plan on making 360 your CAD of choice, fighting it out might make sense. Otherwise I’d likely go 2D into CAM. I have the feeling 2.5D would likely fill my needs so plan on spending some time with Carbide Create soon and maybe finally settling on a CAD program.
That’s a good point. Army did reach me AutoCAD, 2005, then 2009. I own 2014. But I figured I could transition to 360 in a fair effort. But my time in CAD has only been 2d for floor plans and architectural. So little time working on 3d. I’m getting better in this, so far. Quite fun actually.
I think my main concern is the moving into CAM then getting the gCode out.
Others who have mentioned air cutting and practice cuts. I will be doing this for sure. Jalen to have a few pieces of down hanging out.
I’m continually amazed at the software that’s available for the asking these days as I know what a friend paid $5K for ~ 20 years ago to control a milling machine. I think the free version of 360 is probably capable of more things but it’s nowhere near as intuitive, there are always trade-offs.
I think a good 2.5D CAD would suit my needs well and I’d like to get a laser as soon as I figure out how close to 'Plug ‘n Play’ I can get without breaking the bank.
It is fun though and looking through the galleries makes it obvious capable of some serious work as well.
I used f360 a few years ago to help my son with his Eagle Scout project. I was a newbie hack but neat stuff. When I started into my LR2 it was about the time they started changing the maker licensing for it. Turned me off so I looked around and found FreeCAD. It’s very competent and there’s tons of info on youtube. Worth a look!
For your current project, I get it. Just set Z up 30mm or so and do air cuts. They can help to ease your doubts about gcode.
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OK! YAHOO! I worked through the EstlCAM tutorials on YouTube, took my 2 tool path design to the test and came up with good results! Great results! It wasn’t perfect - the first CAD to CAM to RH was ridiculous - a small 16x10 inch plate sized WAAYY TOO BIG for the workspace. Not quite sure what I did, but I went back through the steps and it resolved somehow. So be more intentional the next few times through to get the steps right.
I did an air test, a pen test, then foam; before I took it to the actual material. What did I make? Just a little picnic plate, made of 6mm thick vinyl flooring! Picked up a box from HD a while back in mind to do this - dragged that box with me from Colorado to Maryland - finally got this kicked off. Perfect first project. Two tool paths - a hole and a part - simple enough and even did it Trochoidal-ly so I could do it in one rough and one final pass.
While the second plate was running, I sanded the first in time. (15 minute cuts) to set up this picture for a bit of fun!
Thank you to all of your support and motivation! Pays off to keep at it. Can’t wait to finish 6 more of these little things to make House-Hold-6 happy and then it’s off to my next project!
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Congratulations looks great 
feels good doesn’t it 
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Congratulations also from Italy…
I am impressed by your LR table with Tnut slots.
Is it made in MDF?
B.R.
Paolo
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Yes, it’s MDF but the slots are dovetail slots not T-nut. MicroJig carries great little accessories and having a few of them, I have created some of my own parts. Rather than a lot of T-track or weak self milled T-slot, using dovetail allows more standardization across the whole shop, not just the spoil board.
Plus, I can cut the next spoil board with the cnc
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Nice!
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Way to go.
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Glad to see you moved to estlcam, for a first cam project I think it’s more approachable and definitely simpler to work with over time. I’m biased but for basic 2.5d cutting of flat parts I find it super quick and easy, even the hover tooltips are always useful and right there to help.
Great work on the first cuts! Congrats.
Posted this in the Lowrider2 Troubleshooting just now - but I wanted to tag it in here too so I can keep my path to CNC freedoms together.
This is in reference to the picnic plate above:
I’ve been cutting the same pattern for a set of 8 parts, today I’m in my fourth piece - it’s been a few days since I last cut anything on the table - as it’s fired up - all things are going fine until it’s about 70% of the way around the second of two cuts and it just stops moving - the whole thing. So I abandon the job, deciding that I can pattern bit the rest of the piece with one of my earlier parts cut before.
I set up another piece of material and once I zero the tool and hit start, it lowers the tool into the material breaking the tip of the bit off and then travels up to the start point and lowers further. I think - wierd, maybe the part file has corrupted. Either way - I needed to reset EstlCAM profile for the part with a new tool - so I re-run the gCode to match a different tool and before I dig in, I do an air run - tool off - about 30mm above the table. Wouldn’t you know it? The tool lowers (vice lifts 3mm to travel) to travel to the start point from zero and lowers into the “air material”
From this I sort out that the gCode is correct in telling the tool dropping into my material - but from zero it is not lifting up to travel to startpoint - it’s actually dropping.
Parameters:
Material - vinyl flooring 6mm thickness
Item to be cut is one hole and one part - with holding tabs of 4mm long by 4mm tall.
Tool - Was a 3mm upcut spiral single flute carbide for plastic (I’m going to need a new one of those) now is a 6mm upcut spiral single flute carbide for plastic
Tool settings: Z+ 6mm; F(xy) 35mm/s; F(z) 6mm; RPM 24,000; Trochoidal settings 25%/50%/.05mm
gCode for the beginning moments - 7 lines worth
1 G90
2 M3 S24000
3 G0 Z3 F480
4 G0 X63.1871 Y344.2884 F2100
5 G0 X63.8716 Y344.1678 Z0.5067 F480
6 G1 X63.8402 Y344.0507 Z0.4709 F480 S24000
7 G1 X63.789 Y343.9409 Z0.4419 F480
Line 3 says to move up 3mm. But the cutter is diving into the material - then dives in at the entry point further. What’s going on?
I had a similar problem with erratic Z moves and I traced it - eventually - to having Z acceleration too high.