How to Carve a Wooden Sign in Easel

The recipe in Easel terms

Your README lists only the steps your sign needs, in this order. Here's what each layer becomes in Easel:

Import the SVG

Easel imports SVG and DXF, but its SVG import is the steadier of the two (its DXF import can distort curves), so use sign-name.svg from the zip. The file states its size in millimeters, so it arrives at the right size whichever units Easel is showing.

Easel flattens SVG layers into one group. Each layer of our file is a single compound shape, though, so once ungrouped you’ll find roughly one shape per layer. If Easel splits a layer into pieces, shift-click to select them together.

1. 1

   Open a new project, click Import on the left toolbar, and choose the SVG.

2. 2

   With it selected, compare the width and height with the README.

3. 3

   Ungroup it from the Edit menu. Grouped shapes can’t take their own depths.

4. 4

   Move it so the outline sits in the lower-left corner of the material, or about 1 in in from the corner if the board is bigger than the sign.

Set the material

1. 5

   In the Material menu, pick the wood and enter the board’s width, length, and measured thickness.

2. 6

   Leave work zero at the front-left corner. Z zero is the board’s top, found with the probe or by touching off.

Plan the bits as workpieces

Easel’s Outline Bit takes over every on-path, outside, and inside cut, which doesn’t work when the bevel needs a V-bit and the cutout an end mill. The tidy way around that is two workpieces in one project, one per bit, with the sign in the identical spot on each.

Carve them back to back without moving the board: the V-bit workpiece first (letters and bevel), then the end mill workpiece (background, holes, cutout). That runs the bevel before the background pocket rather than after it, which changes nothing on the finished sign. The one rule that matters is that the cutout goes last.

Square-edge sign? Then one workpiece will do: set the main bit for the letters or background and add an Outline Bit (your end mill) for the holes and cutout.

1. 7

   Name the first workpiece “V-bit” and choose your 60° or 90° V-bit in the Bit menu.

2. 8

   Add a second workpiece, paste the same shapes into it, and line the outline up exactly where it sits in the first. Choose your end mill as its bit.

3. 9

   In each workpiece, delete the shapes that belong to the other bit, so nothing gets cut twice.

V-bit workpiece: letters and bevel

1. 10

   Select the letters (the red VCARVE shape) and set the cut path to Clear out a pocket.

2. 11

   With a V-bit, Easel carves a pocket only as deep as each stroke allows, up to the depth you set. If the README says automatic, set the deepest point it lists. If it gives a flat depth, set exactly that.

3. 12

   Select the orange CHAMFER outline, set Cut on shape path, and give it a depth of 1/8 in (3.2 mm).

4. 13

   Delete the holes and the other copy of the outline from this workpiece.

End mill workpiece: background, holes, cutout

1. 14

   Raised sign: select the blue POCKET shape (the rim with the letters inside it) and set Clear out a pocket, 3/16 in (4.8 mm) deep. The letters remain as islands.

2. 15

   Select the purple HOLES circles and set Cut inside shape path at the README’s through depth. A 1/4 in end mill won’t fit these 5 mm holes; drill them by hand afterward instead.

3. 16

   Select the black CUTOUT outline, set Cut outside shape path, and enter the through depth. Easel adds tabs on its own once a cut reaches the material’s thickness: keep Use tabs checked, choose how many, and drag them off any tight curves.

4. 17

   Delete the letters and the bevel’s copy of the outline from this workpiece.

Simulate and carve

Easel suggests feeds and speeds for its built-in materials. Check them against your bit maker’s numbers for your wood before trusting them.

1. 18

   Click Simulate in each workpiece and play the job through. Watch for strokes too thin for the bit and tabs on a curve.

2. 19

   Click Carve and work through the checklist: board secured, bit confirmed, X and Y zero on the lower-left corner, Z on top.

3. 20

   When the V-bit workpiece finishes, switch to the end mill workpiece, change the bit, re-zero Z only, and carve it.

4. 21

   Would rather run it from another sender? Download G-Code in the Project menu saves the toolpaths instead (it counts toward the free plan’s weekly limit).

Finish the sign

Cut through the tabs, sand them smooth, and knock the fuzz off the letters with a stiff brush or 220-grit paper. For painted V-carved letters, seal or mask the face before carving, paint afterward, then sand the face clean. Raised letters look sharp with a dark background and sanded tops. Outdoors, finish all six faces with an exterior clear coat.

Questions about Easel

Can I carve these signs on the free Easel plan?

Yes, with raised letters and a square edge, which need only an end mill. The V-carved style and the bevel need a V-bit, and Easel’s V-bits come with Easel Pro.

Why the SVG and not the DXF?

Both hold the same shapes, but Easel’s DXF import can bend curves out of shape, while its SVG import is well tested. The SVG is sized in millimeters, so it lands at the right size.

Easel won’t let me change a depth.

The shapes are still grouped. Ungroup them from the Edit menu, and each one takes its own cut settings.