Best software for engraving trophy plaques

CAD (Design) Software
1

I have a Onefinity woodworker and have been using Fusion 360 for my CAD/CAM software. As a side project I need to engrave something similar to a trophy plaque. Shallow name and date engraving.
A. will Fusion 360 do the job?
B. Is the a better simple and free choice?

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I use an older version of carbide create for this kind of simple 2d thing. They come out consistent and very easy to change and adapt parametrically. I made 8 total of these on a Saturday this month using carbide.

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I don’t know if Fusion 360 is the “best” for engraving text, but it works fine for engraving on flat surfaces. Here’s the process that I use for V-carving:

  • In the Design workspace, create a sketch on the surface to be engraved. To help arrange the text, I project the boundaries of the surface as sketch construction lines.
  • Add text to the sketch. I typically use multiple text boxes, so that I can select different character fonts and sizes for each, and then position them all as desired.
  • In the Manufacture workspace, open the Engrave toolpath from the 2D toolpaths dropdown. Then on it’s geometry tab, choose “Sketch Profiles” and select all of the sketch elements that you wish to engrave.

This short YouTube video goes into a lot more detail on the process.

The only limitation I’ve found is that F360 doesn’t currently support engraving on curved surfaces. You can use the profile command on curved surfaces, at least with single-line fonts.

The pic below shows the bottom of a walnut flight tray that I made using F360. The bottom of the tray itself is curved, so to get around the curved-surface limitation, I created the flat recessed “framed” area.

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@stradibarrius, I second @MiBer5’s recommendation of an older version of carbide create. It is super easy to use. I think 7+ is where the free version no longer exports gcode files. 7+ CC sounds like it has lots of great features. It may be worth buying if it’s your main cad/cam tool.

I use fusion 360 for nearly everything. It is probably my lack of understanding and exploring engraving in f360. I have not been able to reliably do engraving.

CC excels in easy, quick engraving and my go-to for inlay carving.

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CC is great for parametrically adjusting text, just change the text and re-export the gcode. This is why it’s my go-to for engraving plaques (especially if I need to make a bunch of similar ones with different names). I find fusion best for my more complex needs.

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