I am attempting to make luggage tags as favors for my wedding. I want them to say some sort of Adventure Quote or something that is less than 4 words. The size is about 3.25 x 6 and the router bit is a fluted 1/16 and also tried with 1/32. Unfortunately, I cant seem to get the results that I want. It is just carving very thin but deep and skipping some parts.
I think one problem is that my table for Xcarve is unlevel so I had to make it a little deeper than wanted so that it would actually get the whole board. Does anyone have any tips on how to get really shallow carving, like the one in the picture?
my waste board isnt perfect either, if i need something to be really precise, i raise the work piece up using cardboard. Not the thick corrugated kind, but the cereal box kind. the photos you posted look like the material was laser engraved.
You can also pocket a piece of mdf the shape of the tag and it will be dead flat, and help hold it.
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I think you would get better results and a sharper image if you used a v bit instead if a end mill.
How ever if you are using easel, I am not sure if it supports vbit engraving yet.
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Check out F-engrave, it’s free and perfect for small text. There are several videos on utube.
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Agree w/ @ChrisRice — also, for small things such as this, rather than tramming your entire wasteboard, clamp a small piece of MDF at a repeatable point, machine into it registration and clamping holes and a pocket to hold the blank material, add any needed hardware, then insert the blank and machine it.
I did this for my Locking Register Calipers: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable (you can see the fixture plate in the second photo after cutting, but before removal — I used aluminum and nylon screws so I wouldn’t have to worry about the endmill running into anything)
just to state the obvious, the image provided is lasered, not milled. 
But with shallow work, always level the wasteboard first, even when you did it last week.
We figured out the issue to our un-levelness. It was the table. We were using an old work table that happened to be in our basement when we moved in and I assumed since the extrusion bars were made of aluminum they would be strong enough keep waste board level and machine. I assumed wrong and the board was sagging in the middle because the table was sagging in the middle. with a few strategically placed washer, the cnc is now level, no tedious milling required. Thank you everyone
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