CNC Router

A CNC router is a construction not dissimilar to a 3D printer, but with a high speed rotary tool instead of a plastic extruder. The tool can carve, engrave, and cut out a variety of materials, depending on the strength of the motors.

The hackspace operates a YooCNC 4030 Desktop Mill.

Operation

Our mill has a bed size of approx 440 x 240 mm and we have used it to mill items out of Acrylic / Perspex, and to engrave and drill PCBs. Both of which we keep a small stock of for members to buy.

You MUST attend an induction course before using this equipment

End Mills

Make Magazine has a great article on the different types of end mills and how they work. We have several collets, between 1mm and 7mm (used to attach the end mill to the router) but most of the bits we buy are the 1/8th inch / 3.175mm shank type.

Software

• Control Universal G-Code Sender (java)
• Control Grbl Controller
• Control GRBLWeb - Web based, also includes jscut
• CAM HeeksCNC plugin for HeeksCAD
• CAM Gcodetools plugin for Inkscape
• CAM FlatCAM PCB isolation routing tool (Gerber etc)
• CAM PyCAM python based CAM software (DXF/SVG or STL)
• CAM JSCut web based CAM (SVG -> GCode)
• Control ChiliPeppr web cnc interface JSON

Workshops

• Schematic capture and PCBDesign PCB design with Fritzing
• Milling an SVG file (Inkscape) using JSCut

Watch our Upcoming Meetings page for workshops, tutorials, and induction sessions.