So, I’m super excited to assemble my new x-carve and get to using it. I plan to customize cutting boards, pen boxes, etc. my question is this- what has been people’s experiences with milling custom pieces? Are people rough cutting to the final dimension then milling the piece before final cutting? Or cutting pieces to final dimension and relying on setup and software for correctly centered and placed words/designs?
Thanks in advance!
For me it depends on the size of the material and how much is being carved. You need to think about how you are going to clamp the material to the waste board. If I will still have room to clamp I cut to final dimensions before carving. But sometimes the carving will extend to the edge of the final piece so I leave an extra inch or so on the material, carve it then cut to final dimensions.
I am sure some of the more advanced users here have much better clamping system than me, so take my advice with a grain of salt.