Instant digital download · Commercial use included · 4.8★ from 776 reviews
Carved wood relief of a dolphin swimming above a sea turtle on a coral reef with small fish, in a wood frame.
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Pet Lover Carvings

Dolphin and Sea Turtle Reef Bas-Relief STL Carving

$5.20 $5.78 10% off

$5.20 here, $6.50 for the same file on Etsy

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  • 📦 Instant digital download (STL file)
  • 🛠️ Tested in Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, ArtCAM, Fusion 360
  • ♾ Unlimited re-downloads
  • ✅ Personal & commercial-use licence: sell what you carve
📐 Design facts
Carving it at your size
Carving size
5 × 8 in (127 × 203 mm)
Relief depth
0.70 in (17.8 mm)
Board thickness
1 in or thicker
Rough with
1/8 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/16 in tapered ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 4 h (roughing 1 h, finishing 3 h)
Carving size
7.5 × 12 in (191 × 305 mm)
Relief depth
1.1 in (26.7 mm)
Board thickness
1.5 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/8 in ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 4 h 15 min (roughing 50 min, finishing 3 h 25 min)
Carving size
11.3 × 18 in (287 × 457 mm)
Relief depth
1.6 in (40 mm)
Board thickness
2 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/8 in ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 10 h 30 min (roughing 2 h 50 min, finishing 7 h 40 min)
Carving size
15 × 24 in (382 × 610 mm)
Relief depth
2.1 in (53.4 mm)
Board thickness
2.5 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/4 in ball nose (1/8 in for the finest detail, about twice as long), 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 13 h 35 min (roughing 6 h 50 min, finishing 6 h 50 min)

Estimates for a mid-size hobby machine (Shapeoko, X-Carve, Onefinity class). Scaling all three axes together keeps the depth in proportion; for thinner stock scale Z on its own. Hardwoods with fine grain (cherry, hard maple, walnut, basswood) hold this detail best. Check your exact setup in Will it cut, free, nothing uploaded.

How we estimate carve time

Finishing is one raster pass over the whole carving with the ball nose shown, at 10% stepover and half of a 1,800 mm/min (71 in/min) feed. Roughing assumes about 45% of the block above the base is waste, cleared with the end mill shown at 40% stepover and 3 mm per pass (1.5 mm for the 1/8 in end mill) at the full feed. The model leaves out acceleration, tool changes and moves between passes, so a real job usually takes somewhat longer. Times are rounded to 5 minutes.

File format
STL only decimated high-quality mesh, binary STL
Model size as supplied
308.25 × 491.75 × 43.04 mm
Shape
portrait, 0.627:1
Carve depth
14% of the width
Mesh
2,025,606 triangles · 96.6 MB
Base
flat and sitting at zero, ready to machine

Opens directly in Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, ArtCAM and Fusion 360, and in any slicer for 3D printing. For a laser, the relief is first turned into a greyscale depth image, which our Laser Studio app does from this STL. STL only, no OBJ or DXF: the DXF files used in CNC work hold 2D outlines, not the 3D relief surface. Scale it to whatever panel you are cutting. Scaling all three axes together keeps the depth in proportion; scale Z on its own for a shallower carve. How to open it in your software.

759 five-star reviews from carvers
"very nice and easy to setup to carve"
— Verified buyer
"Turned out beautifully. Thank you."
— Verified buyer

About this design

Picture a dolphin gliding through sunlit water while a sea turtle drifts across a coral reef below. This relief catches that exact moment, the kind of underwater stillness you only see for a second in real life. Carved in wood with a stain wash worked into the shadows, the finished panel pulls light across every shell scute, coral branch, and ripple of water. This is a high-detail bas-relief STL built for clean carving. The depth is layered so the dolphin sits proud of the reef, the turtle shell reads sharp against the seafloor, and the small fish tucked into the coral hold their shape even at smaller scale. It is tested and ready for Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, ArtCAM, and Fusion 360, so it drops straight into your usual workflow. Run it on a CNC router through wood, MDF, hardwood, or acrylic, or send it to a 3D printer for plaques and panels. For the cleanest result, rough it out with a 6mm end mill at 40 percent stepover, then come back with a 3mm ball nose at a tight 10 percent stepover to pull the coral texture and water surface into focus. Scale it up and the turtle shell and reef detail only get crisper. This is an instant digital download, and commercial use is included. Carve it for your own beach house wall, cut a batch of coastal pieces for your shop, or make it a one-of-a-kind gift for the ocean lover in your life. Add it to your cart, download the file, and get it on the machine.
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Have a laser too?

Burn this design, or burn onto it

Laser Studio opens this STL with zero conversion and turns them into a ready-to-burn 3D-illusion engrave. Carving on your CNC instead? CNC Match lines up a name, a date or shading on a photo of the finished piece, so the laser burns right onto the carving.

Windows desktop app · $40 once · free updates · it prepares the files, your laser software burns them

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$5.20