It’s Christmas & some of the output from my workshop were some wooden toys for my granddaughters, but they weren’t the only ones receiving toys. My family gifted me a CNC router/laser for Christmas, so I had a new toy to play with in the workshop.
It was an entry level CNC machine that goes by the generic name of 3018PRO and which a number of different manufacturers/suppliers market. The 3018 refers to the size able to be engraved, namely 30cm by 18cm.
The machine needed to be assembled, which took an hour or so on Christmas Day. But then I had to come to grips with the software. I consider myself reasonably computer literate – having worked in IT and managed application rollouts and support, so it was just a matter of slowly working through the software. YouTube became a very good friend at this stage and I would highly recommend the series of videos put up by James Dean (go to his YouTube channel here (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzBQxkTsKbaKo1tqqOdxLOQ ). Even so, I spent many hours coming to grips with it all.
I started with the router connected and found the creation of G-codes took quite a bit of learning, but finally managed to get a file created. The machine only comes with some basic V-cut bits, so this limited what I could do. (I have since ordered some other bits to give me more flexibility.) I tried the machine cutting images of proteas in both MDF and plywood. With the V-cut bit, the MDF was unsuitable for this type of drawing as the lines were too fine and close together resulting in ragged edges and lack of definition. The ply was marginally better, but again there was some breaking of the wood fibres between lines that were close together.
From there I swapped over to the laser (a 2.5w unit) and found that this was much easier. The included software for the laser was LaserGRBL which I found very easy to use. Again, the internet was my friend and between YouTube and written guides by Graham Bland https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuoE9S3Cr4VZgpcOi… I found that Laser GRBL was very easy to use. I was able to load line drawings of plants directly into the program and with just a few setup steps have it burn those images onto my target material.
Recently, I sold a few of my chopping and serving boards to a young lady who does pyrography on them and then sells them at the markets. Now, with the CNC Laser I can add more value to the boards I make by adding patterns or drawings to them myself. My new ‘toy’ is a very welcome addition to the workshop and will no doubt get plenty of use.