Prolific woodworking YouTuber [Matthias Wandel] makes some awesome mechanical contraptions, and isn’t afraid of computers, but has never been a fan of CNC machines in the woodshop. He’s never had one either, so until now he couldn’t really talk. But he had the parts on hand, so he built a wooden CNC router. It’s lovely.
The router itself is what 3D printer folks would call a bed-slinger, and it’s cobbled together out of scrap plywood. Some of the parts have extra holes drilled in them, but “measure once, drill twice” is our motto, so we’re not one to judge. He spends a lot of time making “crash pads” that keep the frame from destroying itself while he’s building it – once the CNC is actually controlling things with the limit switches, we presume they won’t be necessary, but their design is fun anyway.
If you’re at all interested in CNC machines, you should give this video a watch. Not because it’s done the “right” way, but because it’s a CNC that’s being built on a budget from first principles, by an experienced wood builder, and it’s illuminating to watch him go. And by the end of the video, he is making additional parts for the machine on the machine, with all the holes in the right places, so he’s already stepping in the right direction.
He doesn’t love digital design and fabrication yet, though. If you’re making one-offs, it probably isn’t worth the setup time to program the machine, especially if you have all of his jigs and machines at your disposal. Still, we kind of hope he’ll see the light.
Of course, this isn’t the first wooden CNC router we’ve seen around these parts, and it probably won’t be the last. If you want to go even more fundamental, [Homo Faciens]’s series of CNC machines is a lovely mashup of paperclips and potential. Or, if refinement is more your style, this benchtop machine is the bee’s knees.
So, he “hates CNC machines in person”, as opposed to remotely?
punctuation matters, it should be “hates CNC, machines in person”, at the very least.
No no, the article is about him building a machine so that he can hate it in person, since previously he didn’t have his own and therefore could only hate them from a distance
why?
Yes, as opposed to remotely. As the video explains, he always hated CNC routers without having one and now that he built one, a viewer commented that now he has the opportunity to hate it in person.
Yes.
Gotta love the incorrect correction.
I’d suggest if you really demand a ‘correction’ it would be “hates CNC machines, now in person” as that breaks up the statement correctly putting the pause in the right spot and adds some clarity to the history – now he is finally able to hate one by personal experience. But IMO it was fine as it was.
As you have it it sounds like only machines manually because he hates CNC, when really calling anything Mattias does machining…
Long gone are the day’s of the prolific Proofreader.
Somebody didn’t watch the video. At 18:55 Matthias says he posted his build progress of the CNC online and someone commented “oh so now you can hate CNC in person”.
The author of this article actually watched the video.
Big trouble is with ‘slicer’ for cnc router. Good idea is Kiri:moto but it is still in browser. Freecad is not ideal . Comercial not working on linux.
3d printers have all chain, complete set of programs to print, cnc not, meybe never has
U wot m8? CNCs matched with real CAD software had proper path planning way before sweaty, obese nerds were squirting hot plasting at each other blabbing nonsense about industry 5.0 and home manufacturing.
You keep your hot plasting to yourself, Pete.
Yeah. There is a lot of commercial ones (some are very good and therefore have very high price). Not really good selection in “for free” dept.
and they don’t just magically figure out what tools to use, how to setup the stock etc.etc.
I made my own in Grasshopper to bridge this gap, and to get away from exporting from Rhino to Fusion 360 (for the CAM section) as I was tired of the post-processors available for it producing buggy files.
“already stepping in the right direction”
We see what you did there.
:)
Was gonna say “microstepping” but I have too much respect for y’all.
I am now proposing that the plural form of “I’m not one to judge” could be “we’re not ones to judge”. I know staying consistent when speaking in the editorial plural is tricky, but I think is worth the effort.
“Takes too much time” – Of course it does.
The leap from shop tools to CNC is roughly analogous to the leap from a typewriter to a word processor (or a scribe and a printing press if you like). They are tools for broader use and there is a learning curve that begins to pay off as corrections (and then the inevitable “I wonder if it would do…”) manifest themselves. If you’ve ever re-ordered paragraphs in a word processor, you know what this is.
It gets better when the user/designer steps off the edge of the familiar processes and winds up with something unique, reproducible, and very accurately done as well as easily modified. At the scale of one-offs, there are often more efficient small solutions, but it’s a nice toolbox to have for the derivative of the current project, then the “what if…” that follows.
For example, Frank Howarth, an architect in Portland, does some very unique CNC-based woodworking that would be profoundly frustrating to achieve with “standard” woodworking tools:
https://youtu.be/_RVptF-hlyw&t=171
Wow, that bowl is a piece of art AND the video is truly a masterpiece.
This is a great take. Matthias has had a hatred for cncs for a long time so he’s going to need to pick a lot of things that people who have used CNCs don’t even think about anymore. We all have our biases, Matthias just likes to wear his on his sleeve.
Grunts and hoots -> spoken words -> written words -> printing press -> typewriter -> word processor.
Clay and wood -> stone -> metal -> lathe -> interchangeable parts -> CNC.
What a world.
Built a cnc machine out of wood 3 or 4 years ago, using 18mm plywood. it worked but after a few months things had moved and by quite a lot. dismantled it…
As a woodworking enthusiast, I fully understand Matthias Wandel’s aversion to CNC machines. I once had high hopes for CNC machines, thinking they could help me quickly create exquisite works. However, in actual use, I found that although they can complete tasks efficiently, they gradually distanced me from the pure joy brought by manual labor. Once, when I was making a small wooden ornament, I used a CNC machine throughout the process. After it was completed, I always felt that something was missing. Later, I tried to make the same ornament entirely by hand. From selecting the wood, cutting it with a handsaw, to gradually sanding and shaping it, every step was full of challenges, but it also immersed me in the process. When it was finished, this work that I had poured a great deal of effort into was of extraordinary significance to me. So, while CNC machines are indeed powerful, it’s the warmth and soul of handmade craftsmanship that we manual enthusiasts truly cherish.