Some of the circuit boards I've been working on lately are getting complicated.  At one time, I hand drilled 144 holes on one board...which didn't work in the end anyway! This seemed like a terrible waste, especially since I have a small CNC mill in the basement.  It is perfectly sized for drilling holes in circuit boards.  The only problem was that it wasn't working. The machine had actually not been working for a long time.  When I purchased it, I had neither the expertise to use it properly, nor the intention to learn.  As a result, when I burned out the first controller I didn't think much of it.  Later I received another controller from a friend and wired it up.  It worked for a few minutes and burned out.  After testing the motors thoroughly several times, I decided to blame the wires and replaced them. Now the machine is running again, but I've decided to learn about it a bit more slowly and methodically than when I first used it.  A good starting project for a mill is a tooling plate. A tooling plate (http://www.sherline.com/3560pg.htm) is a piece of material that facilitates clamping material onto your mill, and also protects the bed of the mill in the eventuality that you crash a cutter through the material. For my tooling plate, I used a 1" grid, and also placed holes at .5" around the perimeter of the plate.  Initially, I used a 1/8" cutter for the holes, but I quickly switched to a 1/8" drill bit.  I also soaked the machine fairly thoroughly in 3 in 1 oil, which I believe I will make a habit of. Video: