New Hobbyist - what am I doing wrong?

[pgriffy]

Attached is the file I created in Fusion 360, below is a picture of the result of running all the tool paths except for 2D Pocket2, which when I started it, tried to drill a deep hole then move and cancelled it immediately and created 2DContour1 which is just the outline of the lake and ran it instead.

I'm assuming I am doing something terribly wrong in creating the tool paths, but I'm at a loss. 

• Why are the letters so deep?
• The first letter carved is the 'o' in reservoir, then it skipped up to the top and did the both words, then came back and finished the rest of the line. Why did the rest of the line end up above the 'o'?
• Why does the Pocket2 want to drill down so deep and then try to rip the spindle off to move it?

I'm using these bits for the pocket tool path, and these for everything else except the surfacing of course.

The machine I'm using is a cheap 3018 clone I got off of amazon as well, can't provide a link because they don't sell it anymore.

I'm not sure what the wood is, it is from an old pallet because wood is expensive and the plywood I tried first looked even worse than this.

Any help, including good resources to learn from or even better follow along exercises, would be greatly appreciated. I've had this mill for a few years. I drag it out every now and again to give it another shot and end up frustrated that it never seems to do what I think it is going to.

[matty.fuller]

There's a lot going on here.

The endmills you're using are not appropriate for timber, get something with actual flutes that is going to make nice chips and evacuate them. What you have are basically grinding burrs, similar to a file, OK for a PCB which is essentially fiberglass but awful for timber.

The letters are deep because you're using the Engrave toolpath with a pointed tool - it will go as deep as it can so the taper "bottoms out" on the width of the letter.

The 2D Pocket operation has the Bottom Height set above the top of the material you've already faced off, so it's just cutting air. So does the 2D Contour in your file, so the fact that it's visible in the photo means you've either run something different, or the tool offset on your machine is wrong.

The 'o' being in the wrong place indicates something wrong with your machine or post processor, since it looks fine in the simulation. Probably something to do with the machine skipping steps/belt teeth or hitting a limit switch. You can backplot your posted code with NCviewer.com to confirm the coed is posted correctly and the issue is at the machine.

[programming2C78B]

i recommend you get some chinese carbide endmills asap - I love 2fl straight for wood, and a 2fl style engraving ones (60* if you can only get one)