A water feature being out of my price range and always looking for an excuse to use my home built cnc I came up with this garden decorating idea.

Step 1:

First I came up with a simple fish design I created in sketchup mostly using the arc tool.I then converted the design to a DXF file using a freebie sketchup pluggin from guitar-list.com and imported it into a trial version of CamBam to create the machining operations.

Step 2:

I had some 24 gage aluminum kicking around so that became the choice of material.I fastened the aluminum to the spoiler board with double sided carpet tape and secured the perimeter with masking tape to make sure it stayed put.I haven't cut aluminum on my cnc till this point so wasn't sure what to expect.The only router bit I had kicking around that might do the job was a 2 flute carbide upcut bit.It seemed to work but I am looking forward to trying some Onsrud bits in the future.The #65-023 looks like a good general purpose bit for aluminum,plastics and wood.

Step 3:

I used the engraving machining operation in CamBam and set the feed rate at 20"per/min and plunge rate at 2"per/min.I also used a little wd40,put on my safety glasses and stood back.The cut came out well but removing the carpet tape was a pain,I'm sure there is some chemical out there that will remove it easier.I made a few fish to create a school as well as adding a design my son created.I then hot glued the fish to some twigs and stuck them in the garden.Pretty artsy fartsy if I do say so myself.I finally purchased licensed versions of CamBam and Mach3 can't wait to get a little more intricate in the designs.