Building a simple bank

Here’s a quick video (welp, maybe longer than the others I’ve done) that shows how to use multiple layers of the same stock in order to create spaces/recesses.

I make a bank in this one, but I’ve also made signs similarly:

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Hi EJ, Nice video, thank you.
How do you reset the ‘Z’ height when changing from the 1/8" endmill to the v-carve bit? Do you run as a new job or is there an easy trick when the current job pauses and notifies of a required bit change?

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I’m not positive how carbide motion does it, but cncjs will pause and you can rezero-z.

I run each bit as a separate file, so I can re-zero Z when I change bits. Plus, it breaks up each job into smaller chunks, so I can stop if I need to without having to pick up in the middle of a long program.

I think once you find what you are comfortable with (separate files for each bit or pausing the job) either will work just as well as the other.

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You can re-zero when you do a bit change.

For long running jobs, sometimes (if the stock is the same thickness), I’ll just disable portions.

I generally don’t create new files unless the stock thickness changes.

I think I’m the minority. I read or was told that big scale CNC places what a million little files. I have no way to confirm or deny that.

I’ve downloaded CNCJS software per the recommendation from @eciramella and it looks promising. In the meantime, I’ve tried additional testing with Carbide Motion based on this tutorial: http://docs.carbide3d.com/tutorials/tool-change/
This actually works very well for those that prefer to stay with the Carbide Motion software during the initial learning curve.

I’ve also been experimenting with breaking the jobs apart at the tool change and this seams natural to me, so far.

@MikeG @eciramella I’m hoping to do a tool change video soon showing how I use CNCjs and its macro capabilities. I wrote a bit in another thread about automating the tool change zeroing process.