What’s A CNC Wood Router and How Does It Work?
Maybe you’ve been to an enormous woodworking show before and were mesmerized by the immense, industrial CNC (Computer Numeric Control) wood router machines. Full sheets of plywood slide in one end and cabinet parts’ complete with joinery cuts, holes for shelving pins, pilots for mounting screws and even decorative grooving emerge on the opposite.
Of course, many of those machines cost quite the typical home and are nearly as big, but lately, some manufacturers are making downsized machines, called desktop CNC wood router. Now, you’ll buy a turn-key package for under $3000, bolt the parts together in an hour approximately, load a program into your computer and, by the top of the day, start performing some real CNC woodworking.
Today’s desktop CNC wood router can’t slice a plywood sheet into cabinet parts, but they will cut small parts’ drawer fronts, for instance, or door panels’ complete with joinery cuts, profiling, and ornamental carving. They’ll mill a rough board smooth or texture a smooth board to form it rough. Where they really excel is in making signs and relief carvings. they’re pretty easy to use, have many practical applications and are reasonably affordable.
How Do They Work?
You do need a computer and a CAD (Computer-Assisted Design) program to run them. Typically a desktop CNC router will accompany a version of a CAD software program so you’ll draw what you would like to chop. Then you turn to some kind of tool-path program, also given the machine. There you decide on the cutter (or cutters) you plan to use. The software calculates the cutting instructions and therefore the calculation yields a file that you simply can name and save. Next, you secure the wood within the machine, install the right bit, and start the routing process.
The cutting action happens automatically. Typically, standard router bits are used, but special adapters could also be necessary to suit the bit within the collet. The bit must extend a particular distance beyond the adapter or collet. the specified extension varies from bit to bit and is laid out in the machine’s manual.
CNC routers cut in what is called three axes or directions. Up and down is that the Z coordinate or axis. consider left and right because the Y-axis. Forward and back might be called the X-axis. With a spread of bits and a computer virus working in those three directions, the sky’s the limit. However, the general size of the machine’s bed and cutting range will determine the utmost workpiece size you’ll manipulate.
CNC Makes Cutting Patterns Easy
When it involves considering investing during a desktop CNC system, just imagine the method of making and using templates during a typical project situation, like contouring rock bottom fringe of a table’s apron. First, you would possibly draw the contour freehand to work out the form you would like, otherwise, you use a CAD program to draw the contour. Then you’ll attempt to duplicate that shape onto a bit of sheet stock and enlarging it to make your template. From there you saw the road, sand it and, if it’s right, trace along its edge onto each apron workpiece. After rough-cutting the form, you reattach your template so as to pattern-rout it to the final size. With CNC, you’ll draw the form once in CAD and use the CNC to chop the apron workpieces directly. No need for a separate template. No sawing and sanding and sawing again. And if you wanted to save lots of the template to use again within the future, it’s on your computer’s disk drive. No clutter of dust-collecting templates within the shop.
There might be real and practical advantages to think about incorporating a desktop CNC system into your woodworking pursuits. you’ll save time, improve accuracy and even expand your range of creative possibilities together with your projects.
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