Cnc machined Nameplate
Final product
The nameplate was made out of machinable aluminum. Engraved in the top face is my mandarin name 林良浩 in caligraphy font. This was accomplished by downloading an image of my name in caligraphy then converting it to a vectorized image using adobe illustrator. The resulting image vector was exported as a dxf and imported into mastercam to give the path lines for the engraving operation.
Full process
There were two setups to create this part. The first setup drilled 4 1/4 in holes on the four corners of the aluminum to be used as mounting holes into the jig plate. This meant that clamps wouldnt be needed for the following operations and the contouring and engraving operations were much simpler to do.
setup 1
The aluminum plate was mounted onto the jig plate using 3 clamps. The plate was set on top of spoil plate such that the drilling operatoin could go fully through the aluminum plate into the junk material. To ensure the plate was in the right position on the jig plate, bolts were placed into the jig plate and the right thickness plates were put up against the bolt. The aluminum plate was then pressed against these plates to perfectly position the plate on the jig plate as it was found in the program. A 1/4 in center drill/chamfering combo tool made the center holes for the 4 bolt holes. Then a 1/4 in drill bit was used to make the bolt holes using a peck drill operation
Setup 2
The plate was then bolted to the jig plate through the four mounting holes. This allowed us to remove the clamps and perform all the following operations with ease. A contouring operation was performed on the outer edge of the plate using a 1/2 in end mill to get it to exactly the width and height. Then the 1/4 in combo tool was used to chamfer the 4 edges, the center holes, as well as engrave the name into the top face of the plate.
Finished product
The finished product was brushed with steel wool unidirectionally to remove all burrs left from the engraving process and to give it a brushed appearance. Pictured is my name plate, Benji's (right) nameplate and Sinisa (center) our machinist and teacher.
