How to CNC a skull

Step 4: Final Fabrication

Once I was satisfied with my CAD/CAM process and once the prototype looked successful, I started on the final fabrication.  The piece of metal was ready without any modification, so I put it into the CNC, set up the zeroes, and went to work.  The area clearance was terrifying.  What had looked fine on the prototype simply wasn't in aluminum.  The machine shook, the ground shook, and I was forced to slow the machine down significantly.  The rough cut took well over an hour to complete.  The z-level, however, was fine.  Because I was using a finer cut depth, I did not get the same issues as the rough cut.  My finishing pass, with the ball end mill was fine as well.  

After I finished the CNC machining, I did some cleanup operations.  The toolpaths left a high point that ran from the edge of the metal to the skull.  I cleaned these off with a few passes on a manual mill.  I also removed the large hole by milling down that edge of the finished piece.