Preface

A Tinkerer’s Guide to CNC Basics will suit anyone who enjoys shop work and tinkering through the process of automating the fabrication of parts of various materials, including cutting and engraving with milling machines and lasers. If you have a desire to make things out of wood, metal, plastic, foam, fiberglass, or other materials, and maybe have to make several parts repeatedly, this book is for you. If you need to prototype your designs and want to be able to do so fast so you don’t have to hand fabricate everything and learn how to leverage Computer-Aided Design (CAD), you will benefit from this book.

The book starts with an overview of what CNC is and progresses toward acquiring, building, and customizing a commonly used CNC machine before delving into various projects. These projects include upgrades to this machine, building larger and more complex machines, and fabricating parts for specific applications. You will learn how to operate and service a desktop CNC machine, use CAD to design or modify parts that your machine can then fabricate, and finally learn how to scale up your efforts with bigger and more complex systems.

By the time you are finished with this book, you will know how to fabricate using a basic CNC machine, cut with a laser, use a fourth axis to cut parts as they rotate on your work table, and operate multiple software applications to achieve your desired outcomes. You will also become familiar with a number of techniques to transfer drawings from paper to electronic formats suitable for fabrication by your CNC mill.