Making a CNC Tic Tac Toe Board Game With Carvera and Fusion

In this Instructable, we are looking at how we can manufacture a multi-part tic tac toe board game using a desktop CNC mill and Autodesk Fusion! Makera is a manufacturer of high precision and easy to use desktop CNC machines, as well as a company built by makers, for makers, in the era of makers. This Instructable is intended to guide users of all levels through the steps needed for manufacturing a fun project like this tic tac toe board game with a CNC machine.

While we are looking at how this project can be produced using the Carvera Desktop CNC and Fusion, similar steps and techniques could be implemented to make the same project on a different CNC or with different resources that you might have available. The Carvera and Carvera Air are compatible with a wide range of CAM programs, including MakeraCAM, Fusion, VCarve, Kiri:Moto, and more which allows you to create just about anything on any device or with any prior skill level.

In addition to writing and sharing how to make this project in this Instructable, we've also created a YouTube video to guide you through these steps. And for our educators, check out our Machining Puzzles and Games lesson plan for your classroom!

For additional information, support, and resources, visit Makera.com or check out our YouTube Channel and Wiki Page.

To manufacture a tic tac toe board game like the one we are looking at in this Instructable, you will need the following:

• A CNC Mill or Router, like the Carvera
• A CAM program, like Autodesk Fusion
• Stock or Material to make the project, we are using:
• A piece of wood or other material for the board which is approximately 80 mm x 80 mm x 30 mm
• A piece of wood or other material for the lid which is approximately 80 mm x 30 mm x 3.175 mm
• Small wood screw
• Two sets of 4 marbles in two different colors (for X's and O's)
• Clamps and tools to secure the stock for manufacturing
• A piece of spoil board or sacrificial material to protect your bed
• Bits for your CNC, we are using:
• 3.175mm x 12mm Single Flute Flat Endmill
• 3.175mm x 25mm Single Flute Flat Endmill
• 2.5mm Two Flute Ball Nose Bit
• 3.175mm x 42mm Single Flute Spiral O' Endmill
• 3.175mm x 12 mm drill bit (1/8")
• 45 Degree Chamfer Bit
• 2 mm x 10 mm drill bit (optional)
• Drill press or hand-held drill and a 5/8" drill bit

Before we can move into manufacturing, we need to plan and design the parts for the tic tac toe board game we are fabricating. This step is completed using a computer-aided-design program, or CAD. You could use a wide range of CAD programs to design your game, we recommend using Tinkercad if you're a beginner or Autodesk Fusion for a more advanced alternative.

As you design your game, there are a few key things that you need to consider:

• Stock thickness:
• We can use our CNC's to machine away material, but we can't add material like a 3D printer. The thickest your maze can be is however thick your stock is. Stock is also often imperfect, and the top surface is usually not perfectly flat. As such, its usually a good idea to machine away material for a higher quality finish, so we would suggest making the thickness of your game a bit less than the thickness of your stock, though that is not always necessary. We are also planning storing the marbles for the game inside of the board when not in use. To do this, we must choose stock that is thicker than the marbles (at least 25 mm).
• Size:
• Like the thickness, the size of our board game is limited by the stock as we need to have enough material to cut our parts, including a small margin around the outer edges so that the stock can be secured.
• Detail / Corners:
• CNC's work through subtractive manufacturing, or by removing material to create our parts. This is done through our cutting tools, or bits. For example, we would need a finishing tool like a ball nose bit to be able to create the rounded half-sphere pockets for this tic tac toe game. As you design your parts for CNC production, consider the tools you have available to ensure that you are designing something which can manufactured with your available resources.
• Material:
• Your CNC and material choice may dictate what type of detail or design you are able to produce. For example, you might not have a 1 mm bit for small corners that would work with aluminum, meaning a softer material like wood or epoxy may be needed. Consider all resources available when designing a part to ensure greater success down the road.

We also recommend prototyping your parts out of something soft and affordable, like epoxy tooling board or machinable wax before moving onto a more expensive or harder material for the final iteration. Sometimes the perfect setup to get the desired result takes some experimentation. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and return to the design stages to improve! You can learn more about this in our getting started video for choosing stock.

After you have identified these parameters, you can move into designing your board game around the resources you have available. The marbles we are using are approximately 5/8" in diameter, so we are going to be working around that size for the pockets on the surface of the board game. As you design this project, you may be creating 3 different parts:

1. The board game, which needs to be at least 25 mm in thickness in order to account for the half-sphere pockets to hold the marbles while we play the game, and also channels within the board game to store the marbles when not in use.
2. A lid that will cover the storage pockets and swivel to open and close
3. A 2D template to create pilot holes for the storage pockets and lid (optional)

You can see a technical drawing with dimensions for the 25 mm board game we created in the images for this step, and if you are interested, you can download the model we are using in this Instructable for free from the knowledge sharing page on our Wiki Site.

After we've designed the parts of our board game, we need to bring it into Fusion's Manufacture tab so we can manufacture our project. We will be doing this twice as we will be manufacturing the board part and lid part separately. We may also do this a third time if we want to machine pilot holes on the side of the board, but we'll get into that later.

If you designed your project in Fusion, you can easily switch between the design tab and the manufacture tab to do this. If you designed the parts in Tinkercad, you can use the Send to Fusion feature to transfer your Tinkercad designs directly into Fusion. And if you used another CAD program, or downloaded our example model, you can import a STEP or DXF file type into Fusion to begin the manufacturing stages of the process.

Once in the manufacture tab, press Setup to setup this project. You will need to select your CNC machine, as well as ensure that Milling is selected as the manufacturing process. Fusion has an extensive library of CNC machines to choose from, and you can add or create your own machine as well. The Fusion profiles for the Carvera and included bits have been created by Makera for ease of use, and they can be downloaded here.

For the origin, this may vary based on the machine that you are using. This origin point should match where your probing or origin positioning system will measure the stock on your CNC. The Carvera uses a wireless probe to automatically measure the stock in the top-left corner by default, so we want to choose Stock Box Point and select the top-left corner of the stock to match this default position for our machine.

Ensure that only the board part is selected to be manufactured by clicking Body, then clicking on the board in your design.

Under the Stock tab, you can keep the settings as a relative stock size, but we suggest setting a fixed size to match the piece of stock you are using. In addition to setting the length, width, and depth of your stock, you can also offset your parts from the edges of the stock to position them in the material. We recommend leaving a margin of at least 10 mm on all edges to save room for clamps and screws. We also recommend ensuring that your part is even with the bottom of the stock (0mm Z offset from bottom) so that only the top face needs to be machined for this simple project.

Once the machine, part, and stock has been set, press OK.

To machine the board part of this project, we are going to create 4 operations:

Face Operation: The first machining operation to create the board part of this project is going to be facing operation. This will machine the surface of our stock down to the thickness of the project. We will do this using the 3.175 x 12 mm end mill set to be Tool #4, even though we could use the 25mm or 42 mm bit as well. But the reason we are using different length end mills is because we always want to use the shortest possible bit to keep the bit as rigid as possible. You can learn more about this in our getting started video for choosing bits.

After creating this operation, we can select our bits and adjust the feed and speed settings based on the material we are using, as discussed in our getting started video for speeds and feeds. In the geometry tab, we want to select the outer edge of the top of our board game as a chain so that this is the only area that will be surfaced, rather than the whole piece of stock. In heights, we can select the stock top as our top height, and then top of the part as the bottom height. In passes, we want to enable multiple depths to machine this area in multiple passes.

3D Pocket Operation #1: Our second operation will be a 3D pocket operation, and this will start to machine the half-sphere pockets for the marbles. We will perform this operation using the 3.175mm x 25 mm single flute end mill set to be Tool #1. We can then set the feed and speed settings based on this bit and the stock we have chosen, as discussed earlier.

In the geometry tab, we are going to select all 9 pockets as chains. In the heights tab, we are going to change our retract and top height to now be based off of the model top as we faced the stock to this height in the previous operation. The bottom height can be set as the model bottom as this operation will automatically machine to the bottom of the pockets instead. In passes, we want to enable multiple depths to machine this area in multiple passes. We also like to use feed optimization and smoothing to reduce excess wear on our bits and also reduce the overall machine time.

3D Pocket Operation #2: After creating the previous operation, we will see that the pockets are machined roughly in steps, rather than a smooth half-sphere finish we want. This is because Tool #1 cannot create a smooth finish, which is why we will now add a second pocket operation to finish this feature with a more detailed bit. For this operation, we will use the 2.5 mm two flute ball nose bit set with the correct feeds and speeds for this bit and stock.

In the geometry tab, we are again going to select the 9 pockets as chains, and while we could use REST machining to only machine areas which were not machined previously, we recommend leaving this turned off for the best possible result in this particular instance so that the ball nose bit re-machines the entirety of the pocket which was roughed previously. In heights, we again want the top height to be the model top and bottom height to be the model bottom. And in passes, we need to enable manual stepover as we are using a ball nose bit, as well as multiple depths, feed optimization, and smoothing as we did previously. After pressing OK and previewing the result, the pockets should now appear nice and smooth with this second pass.

2D Contour Operation: The last operation we need to make is a 2D contour to cut out the board part from our stock. We need to use the longer 3.175mm x 42mm end mill set to Tool #6, and set the speed and feed settings as we did previously. In geometry, we need to select the bottom edge of the board part as a chain. We then need to enable tabs, which will hold the part in place during machining. Tabs can then be cut off in the post processing stages. For heights, we can select our stock top as the top height because we will be cutting outside of the faced area, then the stock bottom as the bottom height. We can also offset the bottom height by -0.5mm to ensure we cut all the way through our stock. In passes, we need to enable multiple passes, and we also like saving the finishing pass for the final pass to reduce machine time and for a smoother finish. And we can enable smoothing and feed optimization as we did previously.

It is important to ensure that each bit you are using is set to be a different tool number. This will allow for your CNC to change the tool automatically if it has an automatic tool changer like the Carvera, or allow for your machine to pause for manual tool changes if it does not. While the numbers you assign your tools do not need to match the ones we used, this is an important step that cannot be skipped.

After creating operations, it is always a good idea to simulate your tool paths to inspect how they will operate when manufacturing your project. This allows us to catch any possible mistakes before we manufacture our projects. To simulate all of your operations for the board part, right-click on the setup in Fusion's browser, then press simulate.

Make any adjustments as needed, then press Post Process to create a machinable Gcode file. The NC program window will appear, and this is where you can ensure you are creating a file using your machines profile, as well as rename this file and ensure you are working in the correct units. Once all settings have been adjusted for your resources, press Post to save a Gcode file that can be sent to your machine.

Before we move onto manufacturing this part, we can prepare the lid for our tic tac toe board game much like how we prepared the board part in the last few steps.

To create the lid for our board game, we need to make a new setup and select the lid part as the body for this setup, rather than the board part as we did previously. We also want to select the top right corner as our stock box point, and we can adjust the stock settings like we did earlier in step 2.

To create the lid, we will have 4 operations:

Face Operation: As we did with the board part, we first need to face the stock down to the thickness of the lid. We can do this using the 12mm end mill (Tool #4) that we used previously, along with the correct feed and speed settings for the stock you chose to use for the. We can then select the top perimeter of the lid as a chain, the stock top as the top height, and the model top as the bottom height just like we did for the previous part. And in passes, we want to enable multiple depths to perform this operation in multiple passes.

Drill Operation: The next operation for the lid is going to be a drilling operation using the 1/8" drill bit set to be a new number, such as Tool #2. After creating this operation, we can select our bits and adjust the feed and speed settings based on the new material we are using. In the geometry tab, we want to select the center hole in the design file to be drilled. In heights, we can select the stock top as our top height, and then the bottom of our hole as the bottom height, and we can choose to drill deeper by adding a 0.5 mm offset just to make sure we drill all the way through. We can also enable a peck drilling operation so that we do not crack the material or wear the bit excessively while drilling.

2D Contour Operation: Next, we need to make another 2D contour to cut out the lid part from our stock like we did for the board part earlier. We will again use the 3.175mm x 12mm end mill (Tool #4), and set the speed and feed settings as we did previously. In geometry, we need to select the bottom edge of the lid part as a chain. We then need to enable tabs to hold this part in place as we did previously. For heights, we can select our stock top as the top height, then the stock bottom as the bottom height. We can also offset the bottom height by -0.5mm to ensure we cut all the way through our stock. We can then adjust passes just like we did previously in step 3 for the board part.

2D Chamfer Operation: The final operation for the lid part is optional, but performing this operation will add to the aesthetics of this part. By creating a 2D Chamfer tool path, we can use the 45 degree chamfer bit to add a chamfer to the edge of the lid that was cut in the previous operation, as well as around the center hole to create a counter-sinking effect. After selecting your bit and feeds and speed settings based on your selection, we can choose the top edge of the lid and hole as chains in geometry tab. In the heights tab, the top height can be based on the model top and the bottom height should be based on the selected contours which is where the chamfer will be cut. In passes, we can select smoothing and feed optimization as we have done before, but we also need to set the Chamfer Width so that this chamfer is cut at 0.5 mm.

After preparing all tool paths, simulate the setup for the lid part to inspect the operations for any possible issues. Once all looks as it should, you can use the NC Program window to export these operations as a Gcode file for lid, like we did in the last step for the board file.

This step will vary based on your CNC, but this step allows us to setup our CNC before machining our parts. We first need to secure the stock for our first part, which would be the wood for the board part, onto the bed of our CNC using a combination of top clamps, corner clamps, or edge clamps. As discussed earlier, we also want to put a piece of spoil board or waste material under the stock as we are cutting all the way through so that the bed of our CNC is protected. You can learn more about how to secure stock for CNC machines in this video.

If your machine has an Automatic Tool Changer like the Carvera, we need to load our bits into the tool change so that the order matches the numbering we set in Fusion earlier on. If your machine does not have an automatic tool changer you can load the first tool at this time.

You may also need to set the height and origin of your stock at this time depending on your CNC, but the Carvera will do this automatically in a later step.

Again, this might vary a bit based on your CNC, but this step allows us to load one of the Gcode files made previously and prepare it for manufacturing for our CNC. For both the Carvera and Carvera Air, this is done through the Carvera Controller App.

After launching the app, you can upload the Gcode file for the board part to the internal storage disk on the Carvera via USB or WIFI connection. The file is stored locally on the machine (no cloud) so that a loss in connection will not impact the machining process.

Once the file has been loaded, we can open the Config & Run window to adjust the settings for this job, which includes:

• Set Work Origin - If the offsets were not set in Fusion earlier, you can adjust the position of the part on the bed manually here.
• Scan Margin - This will trace the perimeter of the machining area before machining begins with the Carvera's built in laser pointer. This should be enabled so you can be confident that your part will machine in the correct location, and that there will not be any collisions with clamps.
• Auto Z Probe - Enabling this will allow the Carvera to use its wireless probe (or wired for the Air) to automatically measure the height of your stock.
• Auto Z Align - If the stock is not square or flat, the Carvera and Carvera Air will automatically probe the surface of the stock for any deviations, then compensate for these deviations during the machining process. This is typically needed when working with warped stock, or when the surface of the stock is the final surface of the part. As we will be facing the stock for the board part, this would not be necessary to enable.

Once all settings have been set based on your machine and material, you can press Run to start machining the board part of the project.

After starting the job, your machine will work through machining board part of this project based on the file we created earlier in Fusion. If you are using the Carvera or Carvera Air, the machine will start tracing the perimeter through a scan margin, before then probing the stock to measure the z height automatically.

The machine will then work through the different operations to cut our first part. If your machine has an automatic tool changer, tool changes will be done automatically between operations. Alternatively, your machine should pause and wait for you to change the tools between operations.

You should never leave a CNC unattended, and we always recommend working with a CNC that is fully enclosed and fitted with a dust collection system to ensure that you are machining in a safe working environment.

Once the job has finished, we can move onto machining the next part of the tic tac toe project, the lid.

To machine the lid, we are going to repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 for the second part of our board game.

After securing stock that is to be used for the lid to the bed of your CNC, you can load or prepare the tools needed to machine the cover part. We intentionally used the same numbers for the bits in the board part and lid part so we would not need to reload our automatic tool changer between parts.

In the Carvera Controller App, or the controlling software for your CNC, we can upload and prepare the Gcode file for the lid to be manufactured. Like with the board part, we want to check and enable the following options in the Config & Run window:

• Set Work Origin - If the offsets were not set in Fusion earlier, you can adjust the position of the part on the bed manually here.
• Scan Margin - This will trace the perimeter of the machining area before machining begins with the Carvera's built in laser pointer. This should be enabled so you can be confident that your part will machine in the correct location, and that there will not be any collisions with clamps.
• Auto Z Probe - Enabling this will allow the Carvera to use its wireless probe (or wired for the Air) to automatically measure the height of your stock.
• Auto Z Align - Again, the stock for the lid will be faced so this option is not entirely necessary to make the lid part.

We can then Run this part of the project as we did earlier with the board part. The Carvera will again trace the perimeter of the design, as well as measure the Z height automatically. Once this part has finished, we can move into creating the pockets to store the marbles on the side of the part.

The next step is to manufacture the storage pockets for the marbles by hollowing out channels on the side of the board part. While the Z height of the Carvera and Carvera Air can fit the board part when standing on its edge, we cannot fit both the board part and a cutting tool that will long enough to machine down into the part. As such, we cannot use these CNC's to fully make this feature of the project. Instead, we will use a drill press (or hand-held drill).

But we can use our CNC to create pilot holes for these pockets to ensure that they are in the right place, though this is optional as this could also be done by hand based on the drawing shared in step 1. To use the CNC to create pilot holes, follow these steps:

1. Create a 2D or 3D profile of the top of the board that includes the holes for the marble storage pockets, and the center hole to fix the lid. Alternatively, you can download the file we used from the knowledge sharing page on our wiki site.
2. In Fusion's Manufacture tab, create a new Setup for this file setting the origin and stock like we've done previously.
3. Using a shorter and smaller 2mm drill bit, we can create a drilling operation that will peck drill the three holes 5mm into the part to create pilot holes.
4. After simulating and exporting this file, we can prepare our CNC by securing the so the top (half-sphere pockets) are facing forward and the edge for the holes is facing up either by using a vice or a combination of stock and top clamps as shown in our tutorial. We also need to load the 2mm bit that we will be using in our automatic tool changer (if applicable)
5. Instead of using the wireless Z probe, we can use the Carvera's manual XYZ probe to place the origin position of our design file perfectly on the front left corner of the stock, like we set the origin to be in our design. This method is ideal whenever flipping or rotating stock in a project like this to aid in proper placement, as well as to find the Z height of our material.
6. Once set, Run this file to machine the three pilot holes as shown in our tutorial.

After the pilot holes have been machined through the steps above, or after marking them manually by hand, you can use a drill press or hand-held drill to carefully drill out the pockets for the marble using a 5/8" drill bit. Once completed, its time to move into the post processing steps to wrap up this project.

After our parts have finished machining and we've drilled the marble pockets, we can cut off any tabs by carefully using a small hand saw or knife. You can also sand the area where the tabs were cut to create a smoother finish as needed.

To assembly the board game, we can align the lid to the top of the board so that the center hole of the lid aligns with the pilot hole creating in the previous step. We can then use a small wood screw to secure the lid to the board before loading the marbles.

Once assembled, you can enjoy this fun project by challenging a friend to a game of tic tac toe!

CNC Machines like the Carvera and Carvera Air allow us to bring our ideas to life through different projects, like making a tic tac toe board game! We love CNC's because of their versatility and speed. While we showed how this game could be made using different woods in this guide, we could have adjusted our bits, speeds, and feeds to have made it from carbon fiber, or plastic, or aluminum, all with the same design and the same machine.

But remember, working with CNC's can be hazardous if not done correctly. Always ensure you've check your design files for any errors, and that your stock is secured and bits are loaded correctly, as discussed in our getting started video for safe operation. Visit our YouTube Channel and Wiki Page for more how to's and guides for working with CNC's and creating projects like this one, and share what you made with us @Makera_Inc on our social channels!

Thanks for reading, and happy making!

Written by @MrErdreich and @Makera_Inc