Complete beginners

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I am a complete beginner who has never even seen a cnc machine but hope to get one but before I do I want to learn the software side of things ,so any advice on good step by step tutorials would be fantastic.

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Hi @Jaceone,

Have you seen the Carbide3D tutorials ?

That should be a good starting point if you want to learn the Carbide3D CAD/CAM software.

Then it all depends on whether you are a visual learner (lots of CNC beginner stuff available on YouTube, but since it’s not really structured, you may have to search and search…) or if you are more comfortable with written information.

On the Youtube side, you will want to check out Winston Moy’s videos in the Carbide3D channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/carbide3d

I have written an introductory ebook for the Shapeoko, that you may be interested in, it’s available online here: https://shapeokoenthusiasts.gitbook.io/shapeoko-cnc-a-to-z/
You can skip the sections that feel too detailed/too confusing (i.e. feeds and speeds…), but hopefully it should give you an overview about what using a Shapeoko feels like in the first year or so.

But mostly it boils down to:

  • select a piece of stock material (wood, etc…) that you want to start from.
  • draw 2D or 3D shapes in a design software (“CAD” features). There are several, but many Shapeoko users use Carbide Create, that comes free with the machine.
  • select a set ot cutting tools that will be used to remove material from the stock, making small cutting passes at a time.
  • create the “toolpaths” in the design software (“CAM” features, Carbide Create is both a CAD and CAM tool), by selecting some of the shapes you created, assigning cutting tools to them, and telling the software how fast/deep it should cut. This will generate a “G-code” file for you.
  • use a “G-code sender” to send that file to the machine. Carbide3D provides the “Carbide Motion” G-code sender for free, and there are others.
  • install the stock material on the machine, define the reference point manually (“zeroing”) so the machine knows where the stock is, and then run the job.

Of course it gets more involved as you progress to make more complex things or cutting less forgiving material, and it’s a continuous learning curve.

And a final warning : CNC can turn out to be a very addictive hobby :smiley:

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Thank you so much, on your last point I’m already addicted to watching the youtube videos so cant wait to actually get the shapeoko.
I’m based in the uk so it’s going to be very expensive to get it here so need to save up for a few more months so hopefully get one for the summer.

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In addition to @Julien’s excellent answer, please note that we have a standing offer — if you get stuck on a file or project, send it in to support@carbide3d.com and we’ll do our best to work through it with you.

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Thank you that is very comforting.
Do you know if there are any other uk based members on this forum??

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