So I am very new to wood working and never used CNC at all.
But I make end grain cutting boards that sell around here for 200.00 plus
I started wood working for my mental health therapy as I am a disabled veteran and I also work in a federal prison.
I have only been doing this since May of this year but I have so much left over scraps that hate to say it go into the stove for heat that could be turned into something that might sell.
I really live in BFE city in WV.
I am currently looking at the Pro 5 with the spindle 65mm.
My huge question is before I move money tonight and place order for CNC and a Kreg 64x64 table frame.
Are there any CONS before I place order tomorrow?
Now I am a NOOBIE for CNC I have a laser engraver that has outstanding software but with limitations even if I know Lightburn really well
I did have a really great email and conversation with
Rob Grzesek
Making cutting boards of tiny scraps is a wonderfully thrifty approach — the one issue of course being the difficulty of working with and shaping small pieces of stock to consistent sizes, but that is something which the CNC excels at.
My recommendation has always been to try drawing up a project, selecting materials and tooling, and setting up toolpaths until one gets to the point of a full 3D preview — folks who are sucessful with that process and enjoy it, usually do well with the machine — the balance is the basic mechanics of workholding, setting zero relative to the stock, and then doing the actual cut, which is mostly a matter of loading the right tool and patiently waiting for the machine to finish.
For me, the biggest selling around Shapeoko, more than just the machine itself is the customer service/support that Carbide 3D provides. With your machine you will get a 60 days mistakes on us policy as well as four 30 minute support calls to use throughout the first year. I can attest to the 60 days mistakes on us policy and have yet to use any of my four 1 on 1 training calls because support has been so helpful already. Buy it with confidence in not just the machine itself but more so the company backing it 100% @HardDrive!!
Don’t get me wrong at all I just have scarps left over from end grain glue ups like a 12"x4" piece of ambrosia maple that I will not use for another board.
I really wish I could show my cutting board pictures on here but seems I am limited to not upload pictures.
I will try again
Just understand I am so new to wood working. I have created so super nice end grain cutting boards in design
But I don’t know what to do I would like rounded edges but at a think 2-2.5” cutting board there are no router bits to do that at all
Plus the left over boards from glue ups.
Here is some of my work I also have a wecreate 40w laser engraver that has super simple software to use
Which is why I love the software that this company has
Not like easel or vcarve or the other.
I am very well versed in light burn but that was back in the day of burning cds and dvd’s
The CNC workflow I see a lot of is doing a glueup, then using the CNC as a sled router to face both sides of the board (often with a shell mill/ really wide cutter at narrow depths). Once faced, you can think about going fancy.
V-carve is a way to use a v-shaped bit to engrave text; you can even then make a negative of the same in a different slab so that it glues in to the engraving on the board as an inlay. This gives you a good, continuous cutting surface with the same text in it, so you can do oil finishes instead of urethane. Definitely some next-level cool.
I’ve found the Nomad (the little brother machine) to be pretty intuitive, and my only issues have been that it’s muuuuch less power than the manual stuff I am used to at work (big old knee mills and VMCs). The Shapeoko 5 should feel pretty familiar by comparison. The support and software is hard to beat.
So I ordered a Kreg 64x64 table last night anyone have pictures of a 4x4 pro 5 on one? Any kind of bracing needed under the ply wood? I am guessing 3/4 birch unless MDF would be fine?
Seriously probably place order today or tonight for the pro 5 4x4 with spindle.
Jonathan, I have a CNC for some years, still newbie since I do only few hours per week.
First: VERY!!! nice pieces you make there. Adorable, excellent.
I do not have the precision I expect from my work, nor do I have or plan to have a planer.
In your 1747 the second column could be aligned more precisely, and there appear o be some glue gaps on the lowest row.
Saying that: it looks like you use a planer for the slabs and the parts you get when slabs are glued together first time.
I cannot. Even cutting the slabs lenghtwise with the grain with my table saw does not get halfway acceptable smooth surfaces. Whatever I tried, I NEVER get the tablesaw cuts by far nearly smooth and straight, as the youtube guys do. So I cut them roughly, and flatten both surfaces with the CNC, glue them together, and again flatten them with the CNC instead of a planer, same with the surface flattening of the glued end grain board. After calibrating and tramming the machine properly I am limited with my stock thickness to the effetctive working height and the available lengths of the bits, what is 3 inches. I did not dare to cut those deep cuts yet with the 1/4 inch collet, max 1.5 inches. IMO 1.5 inch thick cutting board make a terrible weapon in the hand of an angry cook…
I made some IMO nice chess boards using the CNC as precisely cutting to measure tool, avoiding offsets of the boards glued together before the last cut, this way the squares fit nicely. The boards are used by the local chess club, and the take their meetings very seriously, staring for hours on the same minimal imperfection distracts them they say.
Therefore I cannot recommend the CNC more. I had an XCarve (not the Pro) before, now I have a C3D Shapeoko Pro 4x4. Very happy for my purposes. For me it opened the door to making nice toys but also -as I find very nice- furniture I would have never dared to make, all as a complete novice.
Hey there! Welcome aboard (there’s a pun in there somewhere). My recommendation is to spend the time while you wait for your machine to arrive learning the Carbide Create software. Create some designs, create the tool paths, etc. spending that time will save you a ton once you have your machine. And you don’t need the pro version to start out. Use the free one until the limitations become a problem, which shouldn’t happen for a while.
So machine will be here tomorrow and spindle in monday.
I do have a question I paid for a file off of ETSY. What format is best for importing?
IE… .crv, .ai, .dfx, .eps, .svg? File claimed to have tool paths.
I figured I could buy a few files off ETSY and help me understand tool paths and all but seems the carbide software won’t open a vcarve file with tool paths
I just bought this file from Etsy just to understand the tool
Paths and really can’t see the file that well in software.
The main machine will be here tomorrow and the spindle on Monday.
I have a slab live edge ambrosia maple I wanted to run this on see picture.
Just wanted to play with software and get file ready for maiden first cut/engrave.
I prefer SVG. DXF is useful as well but I have that some dxf files can have oddities and errors. SVG always seems to be good.
Having said that. Not all files on Etsy are created equal. I have had some very good quality files off there. And I have had some crap. Just be prepared to make mods to suit your needs.
