A great way to get your students interested in your CNC mill is to implement it in your CAD classes that you teach. I like to take students aside throughout the school year and let them complete a project that uses their CAD skills to complete a final prototype on your mill.
The activity that I include has the student produce a package insert out of high density foam that will protect the product for a local industry in town. The material we use for this is basic high density foam that you get from your lumber yard or home improvement store… It is cheap and is easy to machine….If a student forgets to calculate the depth cuts it will still machine out with no problems.
This activity works great with both 2D and 3D drafting. One thing I always do is to leave a dimension out so the student has to ask you for this….If they draw it out without asking you… I would question them how they got this…
An easier version of this is to have students design some type of logo that goes on a 3 ½ square piece of solid surface material that I got from our local counter top fabricator. They draw the item on CAD then machine the geometry out… Pretty simple…
Here is the worksheet I give the students for the prototype activity
High Density Foam Making Proto Type
Here is an example of the 3 1/2″ coaster that I let my CAD Students do.. Let them draw geometry in CAD and machine it out…