Hello I am a wood sign, flag and other product maker such as wooden cutting boards, beer flight trays, magnetic beer openers, custom welcome signs and possible custom corn hole games and decorative boxes all made of wood. Looking to purchase a cnc that can help me up my production and my game I need serious cam/Cad training as I have no idea what it is or how it works, I need vector, feeds and speeds training and tool path training and how to program the x,y,z axes. I am brand new to cnc. I do everything I sell by hand using all of my power tools and get my stencil graphics from my cricut machine. I need to become proficient in the cad/cam software before I purchase. Is this something that carbide community can help me with before I invest a lot of money? Maybe there is a place I can go to take a few classes on the software before purchasing. Vinny
Saw your ticket on support, and moved it to the Sales folks — probably they won’t be in until Monday.
For training we have:
and I’ve written up a bit at:
and
For feeds and speeds, it’s just matter of choosing the correct machine and material in Carbide Create:
and if you have a problem making something, we’ll gladly work up a custom tutorial such as:
There is some one-on-one video training included with a machine purchase, and we have additional blocks available:
If you have a local college or computer training institution you could take classes on vector drawing/graphic design — the basic concepts apply to Carbide Create and if you get a .edu license you could use Adobe Illustrator or some similar professional program to make vector graphics which you import into Carbide Create to make toolpaths.
One capability to specifically note is that Carbide Create has an automatic Image Tracing feature:
If you could produce a sketch or example of a project you’d like to make we will gladly walk through it with you.
I’m not actually sure I understand what you are asking. I have to make my own files? I wouldn’t even know where to start. What do you suggest I do? Can you give me an example?
I need to apprentice somewhere. I can do anything if I can see it and physically do it. Just not sure where to go to find one. Thank you for helping me. Vin
The custom tutorials usually include a file at the end.
There are files available for downloading/customization at:
Find a file there which is like to what you wish to make and identify the necessary changes?
If you have figured out how to make custom stencils with the cricut, you can figure out carbide create. I would suggest downloading it and then trying to automate something you made a stencil for. CC will show you a preview of what the final project looks like. If you have trouble getting started, there are tutorials on the carbide3d site for very simple projects that will show you the general setup steps.
At a basic level, the only difference between a cricut and a cnc is the fact that you can control the depth of cut.
Vinny,
A CNC machine will significantly increase your productivity.
I have a small woodworking/hobby shop. I sell stuff on Etsy and give many things to friends and family.
I recommend downloading Carbide Create and messing around with it for a few weeks. It has a bit of a learning curve, but with the help of the forum and many youtube videos, you will get the swing of it.
Here are some excellent YouTubers to watch.
Chris with Full Steam Design.
Here’s another guy.
Here is my favorite CC Channel. (lol)
If you download Carbide Create and follow along with the video tutorials, you will get a good feel for how to design things in CAD software. If you get stuck on a project, you can post it here, and MANY folks are willing to jump in and lend a hand.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.