Today's build - back to the CNC

For today's build I leave 3D printing behind and return to using my CNC.  For a while now I've thought about doing linocut with the CNC and today I'm giving it a try for the first time.  I first hand drew a Hilbert curve in Inkscape, then used it to design a stamp layout.  I saved it as a .dxf file and took that into CamBam to generate the tool paths and the gcode file.  I didn't know how things would go, so instead of testing it on an expensive piece of linoleum I first cut a piece of 1/2 inch plywood.  This is what it looked like after a little post processing to get rid of some fuzzies.

Next it was on to cutting the linoleum.  This is what it looks like with no post processing other than cleaning off the chips.  Linoleum cuts like a dream.  It doesn't make dust but chips, it doesn't fuzz like wood, it doesn't melt like plastics. The next step is to do some block printing with the linocut.

So, here's the result of that printing.  I have a lot to learn about block printing, I did about 10 prints and although not perfect, this is the best of the bunch.  It's printed on greeting card paper designed for a printer so it has a score line down the middle to fold and envelopes that match the size once folded.  I also did some prints of hand cut blocks that were smaller and did get some of those to come out great, so maybe smaller is the way to go for now.