How do I get into cnc

[Max Power]

What is entailed from having the idea to the finished article? I have no experience of cnc but have fancied getting one for a while to produce wood carvings

 

[fezman]

Well I'm a relative novice. but this is what I did / do.

I looked at the space I had and decided on which machines would fit, what their capacity was, whether they could be upgraded. I decided on the Saintsmart ProVerXL 4030. Bought a few more bits than what was supplied.
I then looked into what software was available - as a hobby user this had to be relatively cheap. I ended up going with Carveco, which is a monthly subscription you can stop / start as often as you like. There was a 3 month free trial with this, so it let me test it out beforehand.
Then it is down to you designing things in the software, sending it to the CNC and waiting and waiting and waiting.
I then upgraded the spindle to a dewalt palm router - much better.
Last thing I did was build an enclosure - saves the dust from getting everywhere.

IF you want a really informative (IMO) channel, have a look at https://www.youtube.com/@JamesDeanDesigns

 

[worn thumbs]

You could,if you were a dyed in the wool masochist,learn to type Gcode commands in a text file for the tool to follow.It is tedious beyond belief and can easily go wrong with a slip of the finger.It is a great deal easier to work from a CAD file and if you really want to get into carving objects,instead of cutting outlines in flat panels,you will need to either buy a 3D file or create your own.You can buy .dxf files for some simple parts and this will perhaps be worth pursuing to begin with.I suggest spending enough time to be comfortable in the CAD environment before buying a machine.You will also need the software to create the toolpaths and it can cost more than a basic machine-but it doesn't have to.For simple engraving or Vcarving of letters there is a very good free programme called F-engrave and you might enjoy downloading it and having a play.There are tutorials on youtube which may be very helpful.There is also a free programme called Camotics which will allow you to run a simulation of the programs but it can be quite slow if your computer doesn't have the firepower to keep up.

 

[Sachakins]

+1 for the proverxl 4030.
I got the same one and been great. The V2 is supposed to be better again.

I did upgrade spindle to a dewalt router, so much quicker.

 

[Ollie78]

Read A LOT, before purchasing any machine.

To get something produced you need a software to draw the thing you want to make, another (or another part of the same software) to produce a gcode file to send to the motion controller of the cnc machine as gcode.
Then a machine that is stiff and well constructed to actually cut the file as it is told to do.
Oh, and tooling which is easy to forget, and dust extraction.

It is easier than I made it sound there, so don`t be put off.
I find it great fun and you can make amazing things but a little knowledge is very important when buying a machine and choosing software.
Second hand is where bargains can be had.
There are a lot of educational resources on youtube and forums like CNC zone, mycncuk, cnccookbook etc.

Don`t be afraid to ask questions even if they seem daft or basic.

Ollie

Forgot to add that you could start by designing some things and having them cut by others at first, or maybe joining a makerspace or mens shed type place.

 

[curryjunkie]

as ollie syas a short course in a makerspace will give you an idea of the process and you can get advice on machines and software, youtube was my entry into cnc, lots of time spent watching tutorials on different channels.

 

[user 43593]

What is entailed from having the idea to the finished article? I have no experience of cnc but have fancied getting one for a while to produce wood carvings

Just getting a machine was not right for me. I bought one for not much money on Amazon and after carefully assembling it, over a couple of days, I found it was actually DOA. That was a machine of the type now known as 3018 (upgraded). It was essentially junk that was badly manufactured. I next went for an all in one (Snapmaker 1) and that had some plug and play benefits but I could never get the 3D printing side to work well. The software had some severe limitations and the bed was only 125mm square but that was reduced to about 75mm square for CNC. The work holding clamping was problematic too but I cut my CNC teeth on that machine producing 40mm square Alphabet blocks for kids.

After a few months I bought a Shapeoko standard (400 x 400 x 95mm work area) I learned many techniques and then became unhappy with work holding and accuracy. I modified the belt tensioners and the baseboard so it now gives me great accuracy (±0.001") and I have machined brass, aluminium, glass, ceramic, slate and wood. You would be welcome to come and look and get a feel for the process. Software plays an important part. The first piece is the controlling software which is hardwired into my machine being GRBL 1.1f. This is an 8 bit operating system which is very common and translates G code instructions into actions. This is the software that knows the size of the machine (via limit switches) controls its speed and direction of movement along with the homing routine and general housekeeping that keeps the machine doing what it is instructed to do. One can vary stepper motor steps if so inclined and the duration of certain operations.

The second piece of essential software is the design software. It is important in that it needs to know how to recognise the third dimension so if you design an outline of a square, it should have some means of knowing what to do with that information especially if you want some depth to the outline. I use Carveco Maker which is an £18 per month subscription. It is in reality $18 but after you add VAT it is more or less £18. This software understands the depth information of an outline as well and making 3D items is trivial (see images).

It also includes the third essential piece of software, which is a post processor. This software knows about many different CNC machines and translates the design into the specific code that any particular machine understands. I use both a Mac and a PC. It sometimes creates some complications but I prefer my Mac for designing things. Most CNC software will suit a Windows PC much better. Finally, I send my designs (including the post processor information) to the CNC machine using gSender which as the name suggests tells you it is a G Code sender. It parses the G code and sends it to the hardware.

The pictures show respectively, the ash wood (200 x 200 x 25mm) wedding heart after roughing, finishing, engraved and finished with beeswax and walnut oil creme and engraved with laser. If you would like to visit, let me know.

EDIT: Text mistakes and infelicities

 

[Max Power]

Just getting a machine was not right for me. I bought one for not much money on Amazon and after carefully assembling it, over a couple of days, I found it was actually DOA. That was a machine of the type now known as 3018 (upgraded). It was essentially junk that was badly manufactured. I next went for an all in one (Snapmaker 1) and that had some plug and play benefits but I could never get the 3D printing side to work well. The software had some severe limitations and the bed was only 125mm square but that was reduced to about 75mm square for CNC. The work holding clamping was problematic too but I cut my CNC teeth on that machine producing 40mm square Alphabet blocks for kids.

After a few months I bought a Shapeoko standard (400 x 400 x 95mm work area) I learned many techniques and then became unhappy with work holding and accuracy. I modified the belt tensioners and the baseboard so it now gives me great accuracy (±0.001") and I have machined brass, aluminium, glass, ceramic, slate and wood. You would be welcome to come and look and get a feel for the process. Software plays an important part. The first piece is the controlling software which is hardwired into my machine being GRBL 1.1f. This is an 8 bit operating system which very common and translates G code instructions into actions. This is the software that knows the size of the machine (via limit switches) controls its speed of movement, and the homing routine and general housekeeping that keeps the machine doing what it is instructed to do. One can vary stepper motor steps if so inclined and duration for certain operations.

The second piece of essential software is the design software. It is important in that it needs to know how to recognise the third dimension so if you design an outline of a square, it should have some means of knowing what to do with that information if you want some depth to the outline. I use Carveco Maker which is an £18 per month subscription. It is in reality $18 but after you add VAT it is more or less £18. This software understand depth of an outline well and making 3D items is trivial (see images).

It also includes the third essential piece of software, which is a post processor. This software knows about many different CNC machines and translates the design into a specific code that any particular machine understands. I use both a Mac and a PC. It sometimes creates some complications but I prefer my Mac for designing things. Most CNC software will suit a Windows PC better. Finally, I send my designs (including the post processor information) to the CNC machine using gSender which the name tells you is a G Code sender.

The pictures show respectively, the ash wood (200 x 200 x 25mm) wedding heart after roughing, finishing, engraved and finished with beeswax and walnut oil creme and engraved with laser. If you would like to visit, let me know.

Thanks Jepho, great advice and I would have taken you up on your kind offer if you had of been closer.

 

[user 43593]

Thanks Jepho, great advice and I would have taken you up on your kind offer if you had of been closer.

No Worries, Max. The offer will not expire... just in case you find yourself with time on your hands and feel like heading south for any reason. I also use my CNC machine to carry a JTech 4.2 Watt blue diode laser. The pix are of 6 x 6" plain white ceramic tiles from B & Q. The cost was a very reasonable 14 pence each (£5.80 for 44 tiles) and the results speak for themselves. 1) A scientific drawing a of a carp for a friend who was a keen fisherman. 2) An attempt to replicate pop art of the 60s. 3) A narrow gauge steam engine for an engine driver who was keen on narrow gauge railways from all around the world.

Technique was the Norton method... white painted the tile and then laser treated so that the image burned the titanium dioxide in the paint and became etched permanently into the ceramic surface.

 

[RJP]

I watched plenty of YouTube videos when I first started out, then had a play around with some of the free software like easel. Once I had an idea of the basics I built a small machine from scraps, just to see if I could go from idea to design to then actually cutting.
Have a mess around with with some free/trial software, its not too difficult get a hang of the basics fairly quickly. I now run a 3m x 2m machine using vectric aspire and I can just about send an email!