Watch This Before You Buy A CNC Router In 2023

every day I hear a story about someone that has purchased a CNC but now they find themselves overwhelmed frustrated and ready to give up by the end of this video you will know exactly what you need and what you need to do before you jump in to CNC I'll also be sharing the exact CNC that I recommend for the absolute beginner I'm talking about the person that has zero prior CNC experience like I started six years ago before we jump into software I just want to know this video is not sponsored by any of the companies that I mentioned in this video These are My Own thoughts that I have formed with my own experiences but I will link everything that I talk about in the description below if you're interested in learning more about any of those products alright so software now I'm starting here on purpose because software is the biggest barrier to entry when you once you get your CNC it is the biggest learning curve and uh so I wanted to start here so let's break down the softwares that you'll need need so you'll need Cad and cam software so CAD is the computer aided design part think this is the this is the artwork this is the the circles and the shapes and the lettering of what makes up your design then the cam side so you do CAD first and then you do the cam side and that's the Machining side computer aided Machining and this is where you set up tool paths so you set up your speeds and fees you set up your depth of cut so this is how you control your tool how the computer controls your tool to cut out your design my recommendation is to start with the software that the company that you purchased your CNC machine from recommends and the reason for this is because this is the fastest and shortest way to get started think about it as everything is streamlined with one company now CNC manufacturers recognize this so they realize that this is a bit that software is a barrier to entry so so what they do is they create a bunch of resources to train you on a certain piece of software that goes well with their machine so you can buy a C Machine CNC machine and then go out and get another piece of software but then you're dealing with two companies and how to integrate those together completely possible don't get me wrong but for the absolute beginner everything is streamlined start with the software that your CNC manufacturer recommends so my CNC Journey has gone exactly this way I started with carbide create which is the software for shape Oco I used that for three years and then when I got my Avid CNC I switched over to vectric because that's what they recommend and one thing I've observed is vectric a lot of times is the end destination for a lot of people and for good reasons it's a great company I've had great experiences with it and it is a robust piece of software software power tip as soon as you hit that purchase button uh to buy your CNC machine the next thing you should do is download the software and start getting familiar with it start watching their videos on it start watching YouTube videos on it start reading all of the different resources that the manufacturer has put together on that software and while you're waiting for your machine to arrive you should be familiarizing yourself with the software because it will be the biggest hurdle that you have to jump in order to make that first project so let's talk about bits this is something that you will need in order to operate your CNC machine and there are a ton of options out there what I recommend at the very beginning is to go to Amazon and buy some cheap bits you need a quarter inch down cut bit you need a 60 degree v-groove bit and you need a bowl and tray bit those are the three bits that I recommend to get starting buying the cheapest bits at the beginning is perfectly fine and I recommend it because you will break a bit you will break something when you're getting started and there's no sense in running out and grabbing a fifty dollar pretty colored coding bit and break it in half there's nothing that aggravates me more than seeing people go out and buy a Mana bits that are really nice don't get me wrong but you don't know what you're doing yet and you break it and then you're like oh I'm out 50 bucks that hurts that's what I did so don't do that go buy cheap bits if you want something that's a little more high quality then you can head to andybirdbuilds.com and I've put together a good set of American-made bits that has these three bits in it Andy bird build bits but don't feel like you need to run out and do that at first but there's a reason why I believe in these three bits I use them 95 of the time all right so let's talk about bits a little bit and some terms that are going to be you're going to hear you're going to hear of IPM or inches per minute you're going to hear of Doc which is depth of of cut you're going to hear step over which is think about it literally as the bit is making passes back and forth how far it steps over each time when it's waking its way across the material so those are some common terms that you're going to hear and this is all under the cam part of your software now one really cool thing is most softwares generalizing here is they have a tool database already loaded in with common feed rates now feed rates are kind of all of those things that I just explained kind of lumped into one so that's a nice feature so you don't you're not starting from scratch if the software doesn't then usually the bit manufacturer does next let's talk about project design files now project design files are the files you need to create your projects now you can design your own projects in your CAD software and then set up the tool paths One Way beginners which is a great way to get around to be able to start creating quicker and not have to figure out how to design projects or maybe you see something on online that you want to make a lot of people buy files off Etsy but then a lot of companies like either your software company or your CNC a company have free projects to get you started as well so take advantage of those free products are free projects and learn the ropes and then you can jump in and create your own another thing to note just because you buy the cad cam project file doesn't mean that those tool paths are set up for your specific machine so they could have been cutting out of a different material they could be set up for a different tool size so you still they're still learning curve here I think a lot of people are like oh I just buy a CNC I don't need to learn the software because I just buy the files um and I just throw a piece of wood on there hit go and everything is good well that's not necessarily true in order to be successful you need to learn what tools you have what tools are set up in there and so you may have to take some you might have to do some tweaks in order for a file that you purchase to work successfully on your machine next let's talk about material now obviously you need materials to make projects out of some places that come to mind to first get materials to use is The Big Box store so low lows Home Depot Menards things like that now these are good to get sheet goods from MDF plywood things like that they do have some Hardwoods there which are fine to use if you want to test them out it's completely fine but I usually steer people away because they're very very expensive the next option is much better if you're going to go to Hardwoods and that is finding a local hardwood store if you're in a big city look for a Rockler or Woodcraft even though these are still expensive they're less expensive and better quality than the big box stores all right I've got a materials power tip for you and that is to get on social media and look for local Woodworkers look for Woodworkers in your area and become friends with them say reach out and say hey look this is what I'm doing this is what I want to do where do you buy your wood and they'll have someone that's already established they'll know exactly where to get it locally whether it's a local Sawmill or something like that and then the next thing is is say hey can I buy some of your cutoffs like are there things that you're just throwing away where I could experiment with so you've got your material now you need to figure out your work holding so work holding is how you hold that material to the bed of your CNC now the two ways that I hold material in my CNC bed is double-sided tape and or screws I usually don't use them both at the same time um one or the other I've used clamps I've used t-track I've used all those different things and I just prefer those two methods double-sided tape there's a lot of junk double sided tape out there so I'll leave a link in the description to the double-sided tape that I use it's double-sided carpet tape that I buy at Lowe's haven't really been able to find it online unfortunately but I will leave that link maybe you can find something similar the second way that I hold my material to my bed is I just use screws and some people think that's aggressive some people don't like that because it leaves holes in their bed I found it is the number one way to make sure nothing is ever going to move and I like that confidence to be able to uh know when I hit go on my CNC nothing the work holding is not moving and so I just screw use wood screws I one key is to pre-drill especially if you're using hardwood pre-drill those holes before you put screws in because otherwise it'll uh it'll split on you your material split and that's no good so pre-drill them and then put screws in hit go and you never have to worry about it moving I like that dust collection is one of the most overlooked aspects of using a CNC router CNC routers are messy they create a lot of dust a lot of wood chips and they can be very messy so to get started you need a dust shoe some CNC manufacturers it comes with some of them don't you can buy aftermarket ones just make sure if the one you get fits your CNC then next you'll need a shop vac get a shop vac and you hook it the hose up to the dust shoe and it maintains the dust shop vac and people only use shop vacs and there's a lot of other ways to build them out with like a separator and all that stuff but to get started shop vac and a dust shoe is what you need now if you want to go one step further I recommend biting the Harbor Freight dust collector it's a two horsepower dust collector that's what I use and I actually I have two of them I have one on my Avid scene scene I have one for my shape ocos downstairs and my other two other woodworking tools and the one I have downstairs the original one that I have is actually a hand-me-down from a Fred that used for more than five years before I got it and I've used it for five years I'm not exaggerating this Harbor Freight dust collector has been going for more than 10 years so last but definitely not least is machine right we talked about everything else that you need and other than the machine itself and the reason I saved this for last it was very intentional is because usually that's where people start they're like oh I just need a machine and they forget about all this other stuff but the other reason I saved it for last is because the machine I actually recommend starting with comes with everything that we talked about other than the dust collection and material so Andy what machine do you recommend for the absolute beginner with no prior experience and that is the shape Oco now I know there's some keyboard Warriors out there right now saying this machine and this machine and this machine it's there's some strong opinions out there but based on my experiences uh and where I started and how I've seen different how I see the market there is no better place to start than a shape Oco CNC and here's why I've already hinted at it but it's because it comes with everything you need it's streamlined the goal when buying a CNC is to make cool projects so the company that does that the best that gets you from absolute beginner to making projects on a CNC is carbide 3D that's the name of the company and their CNC machine the shape Oco they've built an amazing ecosystem to enable you to get creating as fast and as fun as possible so looking at shapoko's website at the time of making this video the least expensive machine that you can purchase is the shapoko 4 and their uh their smallest model which is seventeen hundred dollars it's a small machine but that is an absolute bargain for what you get so you get everything that we talked about you you just have to supply a computer which this would be someone's argument I know in the comments is that you have to have a laptop well you have to have a laptop for your design your CAD cam work anyways so it's really not you're not adding anything else you're going to need that if you buy another machine as well so your laptop serves as your controller so literally the only other decision that you'll have to make is that that CNC does not come with the router or spindle so you just have to choose do you want a router do you want a spindle most people just start with a router on this size machine and that's like less than 100 bucks so for about two thousand dollars you're gonna get everything you're not gonna have to make any more decisions you're not going to have to Source software you're not going to have to Source a drag chain you're not going to have to Source a a work bed a cutting table that comes with the hybrid table so that is why I say shape Poco is the best place to start for absolute beginners because it streamlines it and at the end of the day you just want to make things and shapoko there's no better than shapeogo on top of all the stuff I've already I've already talked about one thing that separates shapoko from the rest of the beginner Market is their 30-day mistakes on us shapoko will send you the parts for free on them for 30 days so what this does is it takes the fear of screwing something big up out for 30 days that's where you that's where you're learning and so that's why I'm saying no one has invested more into the CNC beginner and their success than shapoko has so again this video is not sponsored by any of these companies mentioned in this video this is all my own opinion and my opinion that I formed based on my experiences so I will leave links to everything that I talked about in the description below if you want to learn so this isn't to intimidate anybody from getting into CNC uh this is to draw a clear picture and to set the expectation of like okay this is what I expect uh because the last thing I want I talk about making money with CNC but the last thing I want is I do not want people frustrated they get into CNC and then they run into all these different barriers that they did not see coming like oh I need this and oh I need this and oh like no that's not enjoyable for anybody so I hope I set the stage clearly to where the expectations are realistic and you can get into CNC and enjoy it uh fully if there's something that I didn't cover in this video that you have a question on be sure to leave it in the description below and I will try to answer them all thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next video script [Music]

Channel: Andy Bird Builds

Views: 271,065

Keywords: andybirdbuilds, cnc woodworking, cnc machine, cnc woodworking for beginners, shapeoko cnc, desktop cnc, cnc for beginners, cnc router woodworking, cnc machining, get started with cnc, cnc tutorial for beginners, cnc routers for dummies, cnc dummies for routers, cnc router, buying a cnc router, desktop cnc router, cnc, best cnc machine, wood cnc, diy cnc router, cnc machines, cnc beginner, buying a cnc machine, shapeoko, carbide 3d cnc, andy bird builds, hobby cnc

Id: ktARgAkZFrw

Length: 16min 33sec (993 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 28 2023