Build Files found here if you want to make this yourself!
I recently revamped a Bass Fishing Themed Flag I designed when I first bought my CNC Machine and this is how I made it. I used a combination of Chat GPT, Inkscape, and Carbide Create to create the image and edit about 3 million nodes until I got what I wanted and I think it came out pretty cool. If you want to learn about that process leave me a comment on this post and I'll see what I can do. Here's what the SVG File looks like after a few hours of messing around with it.
The wood I'm making this from is 21" x 11.25" (1x12 material) Premium Pine from my local Lowe's - nothing fancy. I already sanded it up to 220 grit sandpaper and added Red Mahogany Wood Stain. Because it's Pine I used pre stain conditioner before adding the wood stain to get a more even coat. This also helps stop stain from seeping too far into the grain, which can make things look ugly once that section gets carved on the machine. I only used pre-stain conditioner on the front.
The first toolpath consists of outside and inside contours using a 1/16" Downcut bit at .03" depth. This toolpath traces the image onto the flag which we will then fill in with Black Acrylic Paint. Do your best to paint within the lines, but don't worry too much if some gets into the shallow carved channels.
Most of the time I'll leave the wood on the machine while I paint in between toolpaths since it only takes me about 10 minutes to do. I have a fence built in on my machine, which you can learn to make in this video, so even when I do remove the piece to paint it, I don't need to reset my X&Y zero's since their always kept constant. Super convenient for projects like this and double sided carves.
Once the paint is dry I run the second toolpath which starts out with identical contours to the first one using the same 1/16" bit. The only difference is that this time they carve at a depth .05" which erases any evidence that I can't paint in between the lines. This is by far the best method I've found to get as crisp of lines as possible on painted flags.
The 1/16" bit will then start a Rest Machining toolpath within the stripes of the flag to get all the hard to reach places that the 1/8" bit won't fit into later on when it has its turn to work. Then I begin an Advanced V-Carve toolpath at .05" with the 1/6" bit and 90 Degree V-Bit.
Next I can V-Carve the stars (set depth to stock bottom) using the 90 V-Bit. And finally, to finish the carve, I use the 1/8" Downcut bit to pocket out the rest of the stripes.
