Last Chance on Our MAYDAY Sales is Today!

Thought I’d beat the drums one more time.  The sale ends today.  Lots of great deals on almost everything we offer.  Check our Deals and Steals page for details!
We’re almost at that 20,000 mark and the sale has really helped.  We really appreciate all the support you’ve given us.
If there’s nothing on sale you need, you can still help us out a bit.  If you have a web site, put a link back to us on your site.  We love links to our main page, but honestly, if there is some other page you really enjoyed that you think others would enjoy, we’d love a link to that other page even more.  … Read the rest

Nesting Software from Sigma Tek to MyNesting.com: An Introduction

Have you heard of Nesting Software?  It’s one more piece of the CNC Software puzzle, but an important one in terms of minimizing material waste, particularly for large flat pieces of material such as you would put on a CNC Router, CNC Laser Cutter, CNC Plasma Table, or CNC WaterJet.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a picture of what Nesting Software can do:

I chose that sample just because it shows familiar shapes (letters) in an unfamiliar configuration.  Imagine software that takes arbitrary outline shapes, and then rotates and positions them to maximize the number of those shapes that can be cut from the flat material.  … Read the rest

Take the CNCCookbook 2013 CAD Package Survey

We love to do surveys at CNCCookbook, and our readers clearly love them if their page statistics are any indication.  The last survey we did was on CAM packages and was particularly popular.  This time around, we want to survey which CAD packages are most popular.
Let us know what you’re using:
Click here to take survey
Once we get a few hundred responses, I will collate and present the results in a later blog post.
Some of the packages are a bit specialized.  Blender, for example, is really only useful to the 3D printing community.  … Read the rest

An Entire 3D Printed City?

Modelers must love 3D printers, especially those with decent resolution that make small plastic parts with fine details.  How about a model of an entire city done with a 3D Printer?
That’s what architectural firm Mitekgruppen did for Stockholm:

A 48 square meter model of Stockholm…
A Stratasys 3D Printer was used to create over 10,000 replica buildings for the model.
Are any of you gentle readers using 3D printers for modeling or architectural work?  This would’ve been awesome back when I was building a big HO train layout.… Read the rest

MeshCam is Here By Itself

Not that it has to be by itself, mind you–MeshCam is the Belle of the Easy-To-Use CAM Ball.  It’s just that I’ve gotten so many notes from people as our sale is ending asking to buy it separately rather than in conjunction with one of the G-Wizards that I finally felt compelled to add it to our MeshCam ordering page.
So, there it is now, in all of its glory.  You can buy a single copy for $250, and as it happens, you can save 15% on that during our current sale (ends tomorrow, so not much time left!) simply by using the coupon code “MAYDAY” in the shopping cart when you order.… Read the rest

Making Cell Phone Cases With Syil, Fadal, and G-Wizard

Got a nice note with pictures the other day from a G-Wizard customer.  He’s making molds for cell phone cases and started out on his Syil X6 before moving to a Fadal 4020 VMC.  As a result, we get to see some pictures of roughly the same part in comparison:

The Syil Version…

The Fadal Version…
Actually, they’re top and bottom mold halves, I believe.  The Syil doesn’t look too bad, though he definitely gets a little better finish on the Fadal.  His main remark about the Syil was some vibration marks on the walls aligned with the Y-axis.  … Read the rest

What If Dyson Made CNC Routers Instead of Vacuum Cleaners?

Here’s a cool CNC Router made by Michael Warren who is the James Dyson Fellow at the Royal College of Art’s InnovationRCA.  It’s a portable CNC Router and his web site is Grow CNC.
Check out the video (can’t go wrong with Johnny Cash on the soundtrack):… Read the rest

Turn Toolboxes Into Workbenches

Shops can never have too much storage, and keeping them neat is often a function of whether you have enough storage.  Everything in its place assumes there is a place for everything.
I like to buy rolling tool chests into workbenches and other shop furniture.  For example, my little welding table is essentially a steel plate mounted atop firebricks on a rolling tool chest.  If you wait until the post-holiday sales–after Christmas, after Father’s Day, etc.–you can get some great deals on rolling tool chests.  Since they’re on wheels, it makes it easy to rearrange the shop too, as needed.… Read the rest

G-Wizard’s Conversational Pocketing Wizard

Conversational CNC is a way to generate g-code programs without having to go through the whole CAD/CAM process.  It’s designed to make simple things simple, while reserving the complicated things for CAD/CAM.  By streamlining the process of creating simple g-code, it becomes a lot easier to use a CNC Machine for quick one-off tasks–the sort of thing often done on manual machines.  The difference is that a good Conversational CNC package make things that are still a lot of work on a manual machine quick and easy.  CNCCookbook’s Conversational CNC software is called G-Wizard Conversational CNC, or GWCC for short.  … Read the rest

Should We Focus on Reducing Setup Time or Cycle Time?

I just added a new article in the CNC Machining and Manufacturing Cookbook on the tradeoffs between Setup Time and Cycle Time.

What are the tradeoffs between a Touchsetter on the machine and offline Toolsetting?
The article discusses issues like whether a Tool Touchsetter on the machine or offline Toolsetting is more advantageous.  One reduces Cycle Time while the other reduces Setup Time.  Knowing which one your shop should focus on first is very important to maximizing your overall shop productivity.… Read the rest

15% Off Sale: Help Us Grow to 20,000 Users

Okay, I just got done going over our database and we just crossed 19,000 folks who have used our software.  Amazing!
Thank you for all your support.  But, this just makes we want to see how fast we can get over 20,000.   Nothing I’ve ever tried gets the juices flowing like a sale, and it’s been a while since our sale to launch G-Wizard Editor ended.  Also, we haven’t technically had G-Wizard Calculator on sale this year at all, except when bought in combination with GW Editor.  So, the right answer is it’s time to have a sale.  … Read the rest

Introduction to CNC Machining Productivity

I just uploaded a new installment on our CNC Machining and Manufacturing Cookbook.  This is an introduction and overview on how to think about CNC Machine Shop Productivity by analyzing the overall Workflow in the shop.  It’s based on our CNC Manufacturing Workflow (as is the rest of the Cookbook):

One of the key things in this new installment is an Excel worksheet for tracking shop costs that you can use to begin to analyze your shop’s productivity and cost structure, and to track improvements in various parts of the Workflow.… Read the rest

Tale of Two Engines: Giant Crankshaft and World’s Smallest V12

Two great videos for machinists and engine lovers.
First, this big brute.  Marine or industrial crankshaft of some kind:

In contrast is this “World’s Smallest V12″:

The creator is a retired Spanish naval machinist.… Read the rest

Desktop Manufacturing is Here With Two Amazing Announcements

First announcement:  Staples will be selling 3D Printers from their website, and soon right in the store.  They’ll be offering the Cube 3D Printer for $1299.

Staples will be selling the Cube 3D Printer for $1299…
Second announcement:  The world’s first completely 3D printed gun was shown.  There are only 2 non-3D printed parts: a nail used as a firing pin and a six ounce piece of steel put into the gun to make it show up on airport metal detectors.
Forbes got the scoop on the Liberator 3D printed gun…
Check out Forbes for more photos and details.… Read the rest

Introducing Our CNC Machining and Manufacturing Cookbook

Something I hear constantly from CNCCookbook visitors is some sort of exclamation about how much information can be found here.  There truly is a tremendous amount of information–literally a couple thousand pages of it.  Some of it is in the Blog area, where it can be accessed chronologically (not especially helpful except to stay current), by Category (see the list on the lower left column), or by Search.  The blog comprises nearly 600 posts, so the majority of the site is still in the form of regular web pages.  You can visit those pages using the menu above to drill down to the information you’re looking for:
-  Software:  These are the home pages for our G-Wizard Software and all that goes with that.… Read the rest