Milling machines are great for prototyping your own PCBs, but they can also be used for making excellent decorative art and wearables.  In this guide, I'll show you my process for using a milling machine to create custom, hand painted, resin glazed pins using copper PCB material.

This project assumes you are familiar with vector design software and the CNC milling process in general.

Tools & Materials

Required:

• Milling machine
• 1/32" flat end mill bit
• Double-sided copper clad FR-1 board
• Double-sided tape
• Pin posts and clasps
• Acrylic paint or gouache
• Fine tipped brush
• Resin glaze (such as Envirotex Lite)
• Mixing cup and stirrer for resin
• Solder tack flux
• Lead-free solder
• Soldering iron
• Vector design software (Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.)
• Small tabletop vise (such as Panavise Jr.)
• Alcohol & cotton swabs

Optional:

• Latex/nitrile/vinyl gloves
• 1/16" flat end mill bit
• Plastic or metal scraper/putty knife
• Razor/X-acto blade
• Paint pallete/dish
• Plastic straw
• Hair dryer