For this project, Antonija and I used the Nomad 3 to create wooden cutouts of a tulip.

This project was probably the most technically challenging one we’ve had so far. There are so many small steps that can go wrong—from designing your file to setting up the machine—and you have to be very detailed and patient to achieve the outcome you want.

Our first challenge came in designing our desired cutouts in Carbide Create. Initially, I wanted to make a stamp of flowers. Even though the image seemed relatively straightforward in 2D, as soon as I began designing it in Carbide Create, I realized I really had to think through and imagine the different layer depths I needed to get the outcome I wanted. How do I get the flowers and their details to properly show? Did I want the flower outlines to be the deepest, or at the same depth as their surroundings?

After talking it through with Paige, I decided to first make a ¼-inch pocket surrounding the flowers. Then, I added 1/10-inch contours to mark where the flowers were, and finally, I added full-depth contours to define the edge of the postage stamp.

With the design file ready, we were prepared to try printing. This is when we began encountering the major challenges of the project: ensuring the wood is properly secured in the machine, attaching the calibrator correctly, and finding and installing the right drill type and size. Although these tasks are relatively straightforward, they require practice to troubleshoot effectively.

With help from our classmates, we figured things out though—and our first cut began! Although our excitement was short-lived (as you’ll see, the flower details were missing), we were still proud that we had successfully set up the machine and gotten it to cut something. That said, it was clear something had gone wrong, as shown by the hole in the bottom left corner of the cut. When the outer edge contour started cutting, the wood was pulled up, revealing that it hadn’t been properly secured—so we had to stop the cut to prevent any damage to the machine.

Due to time constraints and limited knowledge of the design software and the CNC machine’s capabilities, we decided not to troubleshoot our original design. Instead, we switched to another design that Antonija had been working on. This one had fewer details to cut and clearer start and end points, so we knew that with the experience from our first print, we’d have an easier time with this one. We repeated our steps—checking the simulation in Carbide Create to ensure the design looked right, importing it into Carbide Motion and visualizing it in ISO view, setting up the machine, and cutting!

We were excited to see the different parts of the tulip being drawn out. However, during our first cut, we realized the tulip’s orientation was off—the oval was going to be cut improperly and wouldn’t be fully on the wood. We were annoyed with the whole process by this point and considered letting it cut anyway and just having half an oval. But we decided against that, since we’d run the risk of the drill bit hitting the metal parts of the machine. So, we stopped the cut, reoriented the design, and reran the print. This one came out as planned! Well… mostly. If you look closely, you’ll see a little dent in the top left-middle of the oval—this happened because our outer contour was too deep, and the drill bit started moving around the design. Because of that, we had to stop the cut early again. Luckily, this happened during the final stages of the cut, so rather than redesigning the file, we decided that when we reran the design, we’d just stop the cut before the oval started moving.

To post-process and finish, we sanded the edges of the tulips to clean up the design and smoothed the cut edges for a cleaner finish. We then applied a layer of Danish oil followed by a coat of clear spray paint, and just like that—we were done with our project!

After we finished our cuts, we removed the materials from the workspace and vacuumed the machine to keep everything in good condition for the next use.

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	Wood (5.9in x 3.5in x 0.76in)	$27.25/1 piece (1in*12in*96in)	homedepot.com	4 pcs	$4.55 (approximately $ 1.14 each)
	1/8 End Mill Cutter	$ 11.99/1 piece	amazon.com	11.99	$11.99
	1/16 End Mill Cutter	$19.99/ 5 pieces	amazon.com	1	$3.99
	Danish oil	$25.06/947ml	amazon.com	50 mL	$1.32
	Clear coat	$6.47/ 340g	amazon.com	50 g	$0.95
Labor	Prototyping Engineer (You!)	$17/hr	ziprecruiter.com	6hr	$102
Overhead	Facility Cost	$0.13/kWh	Electricity	4hr	$0.15
	Facility Cost	$50/hr	Nomad 3 CNC Machine	3 hours (counting the failed designs)	$150
Design	Iterations	$27.25/1 piece (1in*12in*96in)	Calculated above	4	$0
	Engineering and Development	$17/hr	ziprecruiter.com	1hr	$17
Misc.	Sandpaper	$2.98/1pack	homedepot.com	1	$2.98
	Brushes	$1.87/1pack	homedepot.com	1	1.87
	Paper towels (to wipe on poly)	$0.98/ 140 sheets	homedepot.com	10 sheets	$0.07
Overall Total					$296.87