Create a Beautiful Mirror for Your Sweethart

I created this personalized mirror for each of my girls and My wife.  Makes a great gift. I made it at TechShop.  I also made the personalized hart jewelry/ music box also on Instructables. https://www.instructables.com/id/Hart-jewelry-music-box-for-your-sweethart/

Step 1: Material

1 piece of hardwood or soft wood.  8"X16"X.75" I used maple for this project.
1 5" diameter round mirror I got from Michael's.
Sandpaper
Your choice of Stain
Your choice of finish
a little latex caulking to glue mirror in.

Step 2: Create Drawing

I created the drawing in BobCad and exported it to use in V-Carve  I have attached the v-carve files.  I would create your own paths so you are sure it is compatible with your cnc.  The v-carve is .05 in from the top surface. The thing to remember is you have two sides to carve so you will need to make a jig to hold the part to carve the back side.  Note in the v-carve files one side is offset to accommodate my gig.  I used a piece of 1/2" birch plywood for the jig.  I used the same drawing of the mirror but did a cutout on the inside of the line.  I had to sand it a little so it fit snug into the jig without holding.  You can also make clamps on the jig if you want. Mount the jig to the table once you have the shape cutout.  I have attached the v-carve files of the drawing. 

Note you will need to pull off some of the fonts from the internet to get the features I have added.  I have listed them here.  you will need to google these and install on your computer before opening the file. 

Dingleberries.ttf
FRSCRIPT.TTF
Hearts and Stars.ttf
Royal.ttf

Step 3: Start V-carve and the Outer Cut

I mounted the board to bed of the CNC shopbot at techshop and started with  a 1/4" 60Deg  v-bit.  I cut out the mirror with a 1/4 " spiral cut bit.

Step 4: Cut the Tabs Off the Mirror From the Piece of Wood

Cut the tabs off the Mirror from the piece of wood and sand down the remaining tabs so the edge is flat.  At this point create your jig.  Cut out the shape on the inside of the line using cnc.  Sand so Mirror will fit inside the cutout.  Clamp to the table. 

Make sure you have the opposite side of the mirror up

Step 5: Pocket Out for Mirror and V-Carve Reverse Side.

You are ready to cut the opposite side.  you can either v-carve first or pocket first but it should be easier to pocket first since 1/4" Spiral bit is still in chuck.

Step 6: I Then Used a Router to Put a 1/4 Round Over Around Both Top and Bottom Edge

Step 7: Sand and Finish

Sand and finish the piece.  You may need to use a small file to clean out some of the carving.  sometimes there are little burrs that need to be cleaned up. 
I used a light stain over the entire piece first and then used a darker stain dribbled into the carved areas to darken them up.  I then followed up with 3  finish coats of Shlac. 

Once everything was dried I used some latex caulk to secure the mirror into the pocket. 
Makes a great gift.  Enjoy!