*Must Haves* in a CNC Design Book

[WoodMarvels.com]

To give you some background, I try to publish a book every year of my laser cut designs but this year my focus is to get the CNC end of things up and running so it will be CNC and not laser this year. So far I have 18 tested and built CNC designs and my goal is to get to 40-50 by the end of the year... and stick them all in a book as I do with my laser cutting books.

I also plan on making these books far more than just a compilation of designs starting with this one, I want to make them educational... something that both veterans of the industry and newbies would find of value and learn something from.

What things do you think are a *must have* in a CNC design book? What do you like/hate in books you already have on the subject?

Thanks for your feedback,
Jon

[kbraat]

Jon,

My question would be what is the focus of the book? Are you just looking for mainly plans with a few tips? Plans that show off the described tips? Do you have a scale of machine you are planning to build the plans for (desktop, 4'x4' or larger)?

I would mention types of joints that work well with the router bits. Remember to consider the true material thickness vs. nominal thickness. Consider the best material types for the application. Also, I'm not sure that I would limit my plans to just designs - include some jigs and fixtures that would be of value to the CNC crowd.

A list of what designs you already have may be beneficial (picnic table, stool, router bit or collet holder) to see the focus of the work. Many of the laser cut designs you have will already work, but you might have to detail some adjustments to joints or square corners. A detailed section on using the plans from the laser to convert to CNC and example would probably be the best.

I like to mock up a design on the laser, then scale up for the router if possible, since I have both pieces of equipment. It lets me compare the 3D CAD model to the physical assembly before wasting any of the more expensive material. The miniature models are also nice for a customer samples.


To give you some background, I try to publish a book every year of my laser cut designs but this year my focus is to get the CNC end of things up and running so it will be CNC and not laser this year. So far I have 18 tested and built CNC designs and my goal is to get to 40-50 by the end of the year... and stick them all in a book as I do with my laser cutting books.

I also plan on making these books far more than just a compilation of designs starting with this one, I want to make them educational... something that both veterans of the industry and newbies would find of value and learn something from.

What things do you think are a *must have* in a CNC design book? What do you like/hate in books you already have on the subject?

Thanks for your feedback,
Jon

[WoodMarvels.com]

Hi Kevin, across the board I use 6mm plywood like with my laser designs. My footprint is that of my ShopBot Desktop (400mm x 500mm) but in the book, this is irrelevant as the plans are whatever fits in the space, and can be easily scaled up if desired. Plans on my website are for ShopBot Desktop by default though.

My third volume of laser designs has a few design ideas but mostly plans and how they go together, this would be my 4th volume but I do like the idea of conversion (laser ---> CNC) as I'm doing a heck of a lot of that as it is... sadly, it's not as straight forward as just scaling-up and rounding some corners so that might be of great value. Going from CNC ---> laser would be a breeze so that doesn't need to be covered at all I think.

I'm rather limited in other materials than 6mm plywood using a straight 1/8th bit... so maybe having a few "guest sections" from some pros in the field that go into the finer details of materials, jigs, joints etc might also be great.

Basically, I'd like somebody to pick the book up, realize how "easy" it is to build 3D objects using a 2D platform and learn some insight about CNC'ing both in general and detail (though this is not going to be a technical manual).

Thanks for your feedback - greatly appreciated!

Jon

[planman]

Hello Jon,

I have followed your web site for a long time and I am thirlled you are working on a book for the router guys!

Suggestion for the book: GEARS! There are dozens of different shapes and configurations of gears you can use to make great childrens toys.

MY product idea: Lay out a grid pegs can fit into. Then 10 or 15 different gear sets that can be laid out and operated (in different configurations) using the pegboard. With a little creativity some highly rube goldberg contraptions would result and is would also teach kids a lot about the fact that gears shapes other than circles exist and work!

This product would be something anyone with a router table could make, even if they had a desktop size, it would make an excellent holiday gift, and should sell a lot of copies for you.

The guy that suggested the idea woudln't mind getting a free copy for his kid either ;)

My 2 cents....

[gsartor_1999]

I second that 2 cents so now you have 4 cents suggesting gears and gear systems. ;-)

[WoodMarvels.com]

Hi Gina and Charles - gears is something I'll get heavily into along with elastic powered items in Volume 5... won't make this one due to a lack of design time and more importantly, laser machine access which will be no problem in a few months once I move yet again.

It's been months since I designed something for laser (other designers keep sending me such cool laser stuff so I put them ahead of my stuff) and CNC is just so much fun that it will be my sole focus for a good part of the year. Also have a crazy amount of filming to get done throughout the year for both laser and CNC! Got to get more CNC stuff out in the marketplace so I can attract a bunch of very talented CNC'ers to join the site with their designs.

I'm also hoping to get my hands on a 3D printer too... it's a whole other business I'm very eager to plunge into head first!

Jon