Tag: CNC Router

Make Money with Your CNC Machine

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There are generally three types of customers who buy our CNC machines. The first type just wants to have fun learning the technology. The second type already manufactures a product and needs a CNC machine to expand his business or make his processes more efficient. The final type is looking for a way to make money on the side or even create his or her own fulltime job. If you are the third type of customer, this blog post is for you. 

The first step to making money with CNC is developing a proficiency with the technology.  Through some effort and commitment to your craft, you’ll find operating the machine and designing parts will become like second nature. With everything there is a learning curve that depends on many factors, and you will need to hone your skills to efficiently produce your ideas before you can turn a profit. After you’ve developed some proficiency with CNC, you can develop a plan to bring in some money.  There are two basic ways you can generate revenue: Develop and market your own products or enhance existing products and services.

Developing your own products

Start by thinking about what you are passionate about. You are much more likely to succeed and give your new venture sufficient effort if it is something that you truly care about and enjoy. Once you’ve made a short list of products that you enjoy or have a personal passion for, consider their marketability. Search the internet for what you want to produce. Is it listed for sale? If so, that’s a great indication that there are buyers out there who want it. Is everyone selling them? That’s a product to stay away from, unless you can specialize within that product group. For instance, if you are passionate about monogramed trinkets, go to www.etsy.com and search for the phrase and see how many results you get. If there already exists a lot of competition it might not be worth the endeavor. However, developing a specialized style or catering to a niche could make your product competitive.

Next, think about the manufacturability of your product and the capacity needed to be profitable. The great thing about PROBOTIX is that their low prices allow for a quick return on investment. With that said though, you need to make sure that the machine you select can cut the products in the required time frame. As you move up our product line, you not only increase the size of the pieces that you can cut, and the number of pieces that you can cut on the bed at one time. Align your production plans with capability.

Considering the channels through which you can sell your products is of equal importance. Hobby market CNC users sell their items in a multitude of arenas including:

  • Online
  • Trade Shows
  • Craft Fairs
  • Facebook Marketplace
  • Brick n Mortar Gift Shops

Enhance existing products and services

What does it mean for you to enhance the products or services of existing businesses? It means finding a way to use your machine’s capabilities and your proficiency with running it to help other businesses improve their products or expand what they can offer to their customers. Businesses are always looking for ways to get better, make their products faster, and generate more revenue.

Brainstorm for a while about the kind of business that can be made better with your CNC services. These businesses are usually small, have “hand-worked” processes, and access to a lot of customers. “Mom and Pop” sign and print shops are a great place to pitch your services. They often don’t have the capability to produce custom engraved work for their customers. Many likely turn down customer requests because they just don’t have the capability in house or don’t even know who to call to have custom engraved pieces made. Some of these shops will even refer customers to you directly for no fee because they are happy to provide a solution to their customers and help another local business at the same time. Wedding venues are another great place to offer your services. These venues often provide a souvenir to their clients that commemorates the event. Also consider local furniture makers. These can be people selling porch swings at the local hardware store or dressers at the local farmer’s market. Explain to the craftsman that getting custom engravings or beautiful adornments, you will increase the demand for their furniture pieces.

Be clear with your newfound business partners about your timelines and restrictions. If this is a side hustle that you only tend on the weekends, they need to understand this so they can better tie your capabilities into their products and services. Be realistic with yourself about what you can accomplish. An order for 300 intricately engraved wood panels is great, but not something you can finish over one weekend. Your newfound business partners will appreciate your candor.

Wrapping it up

This is only scratching the surface of all the different ways you can earn and income with a PROBOTIX CNC machine. If you are making products for profit or for your own personal enjoyment I hope you will show off what you want to make on our projects forum. Contact one of our Application Engineers at 844-472-9262 or email support@probotix.com to help pick out the right machine for your product and design needs and start making money with your CNC machine today.

Leave us your comments. Let us know how you make money with your CNC machine.

Picking the Right CNC Machine

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How do you know which CNC machine is right for you? Computer Numerical Control (CNC) has made manufacturing more efficient and cost effective. Choose a manufacturer that is known for craftmanship and has machines that fit your application requirements. When evaluating CNC machines, use the below tips to help decide what is the best one for you.

The Work Envelope

When choosing a CNC machine, select the one that goes beyond the maximum area for your products. Here is an example; if you are looking for laser equipment, pick a laser CNC machine that has a working radius bigger than the largest material you cut.

Size and Weight

The common materials used in the construction of CNC machines are aluminum, polymer composite, and iron cast. Where you need a durable machine for tough jobs, the iron cast is the best build. Other materials are suitable for lighter tasks.

Speed

The speed is also referred to as the feed rate of your machine. Look at the feed rate when choosing your machine. It determines the rate at which you can cut materials during the actual manufacturing processes.

Availability of Support

Like any other appliance, your CNC machine may break down or wear down with use. You should ensure that the brand that you purchase can be easily repaired by your technicians and that the spare parts are readily available. It eliminates the downtime between the time of breaking down to the time that the machine is back on.

Power

Depending on the kind of equipment you purchase, you may need to increase the power available in the workshop. Check the power requirements of your machine and make the necessary adjustments at the workplace.

A CNC machine is rather expensive. Therefore, take the time to choose a machine that will serve you as needed and will last a long time. For more information on choosing the right CNC machine, contact the team at PROBOTIX at 844-472-9262 or email support@probotix.com to find the machine that best fits your needs.

CNC Machine Market- Know the 3 Major Classes Before You Buy

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When you first get into the world of CNC you often find overwhelming information that can be challenging to navigate. Contrasting each manufacturer and product is akin to comparing apples and oranges. Each product line, manufacturer, and model falls into different places on the CNC spectrum.

In this article we will breakdown the 3 primary categories of CNC Routers: Hobby, Prosumer, and Professional. Each has a set of metrics that can do a lot of the initial heavy lifting when researching a machine that is optimal for your specific needs and budget. Lets dive into the many factors that determine a machine category such as size, cost, production capabilities, options, and breakdown the pros and cons for each.

  1. Hobby – CNC Kits
    Hobbyist kits are the least expensive type but require the most amount of experience, time, and patience. These router kits have to be assembled and calibrated and getting one up and running is a whole project by itself. Hobby CNC machine kits are best for non-commercial use and can be hit or miss when using in a production model. Understanding of electronics, mechanics, computers, and software is a must to have an efficient running machine for the desired utility. Hobby machines are not nearly as rigid or reliable as other CNC types.For the hobbyist who has time to fidget, troubleshoot, and hack away – it can be a fun activity with rewarding outcomes. Other hobbyists who lack in-depth knowledge of the mechanical, software, or both sides to a CNC machine often find kits to be frustrating and time-consuming and would opt for a more turnkey, ready to run machine. Inventables and Shapoko are a couple of brands that are popular in the hobbyist market. These kits often use cheaper components belts that can stretch and wear more than the alternative lead screw systems. The cheap plastic wheels for the linear drive mechanism in hobbyist CNCs is a disadvantage in both precision and replacement.
  2. Prosumer
    Prosumer lines of CNC machines run off of inexpensive PC based controls. They should have professional drive systems to include linear rails using ACME or ball screws. These machines are more rigid, precise, and reliable. Prosumer class CNC machines are a perfect option for small business and startups. The cost of entry is lower but you can still do high quality production work.Prosumer CNC machines also have a plethora of options the consumer can choose to customize the machine to their needs. You can often choose any spindle or router and explore additions like 4th axis, handheld jog pendants, touch-off plates, engraving lasers, CAM software, threaded inserts, and more -which is rare in the hobby or commercial/pro class CNC machines.  PROBOTIX fully assembled GX machines fall in the prosumer CNC category and are used for a multitude of applications from hobby woodworking, educational and university teaching, light industrial applications, and even commercial mass production.

    GX3725 Asteroid
    Shown is the PROBOTIX GX3725 – a new and improved GX series of machines matching the work envelop from our Galaxy Series Asteroid. Pictured is an installed 4th rotary axis (permanent location w/ split spoil board), MPG Jog Pendent, 1/4-20 threaded inserts plotted along a grid on the spoil board for lining up stock. The aluminum machine stand pictured here (with leveling feet – locking castors are the other option). It includes a mounted KVM arm to hold the monitor, mouse, and keyboard for convenience and aesthetics.

     

  3. Professional/Commercial CNC
    This class of CNC machine is the most expensive and best for larger application and companies with the capital and need to run high capacity heavy-duty industrial work. These machines run on proprietary control systems and require a higher learning curve to master the control systems. HAAS is the largest manufacturer of this class of cnc machine but bear in mind replacement parts are expensive. If your business depends on your machine running at high capacity or you can’t afford downtime when a problem occurs, you can get service calls on site but they are very expensive. Navigating the typical dealer network these class machines use can be a hassle. Typically a commercial machine requires a high dollar machinist and high level of technical skill to operate.

PROBOTIX™ is a leader in digital machining and a domestic manufacturer of fully assembled, tested, and turnkey CNC solutions – right here in the United States. Call us today at 866.492.9262 or email support@probotix.com to chat with an applications specialist to help find the right machine for your needs.

 

 

Choosing the right CAM software – Three Basic Operations

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The CAM software you choose depends upon the types of parts you want to make. There are three basic types of operations that you can do with a CNC router:

  • Bitmap relief carving
  • 2.5D carving
  • 3D carving

The first and simplest type of operation is bitmap relief carving. This is for working with photographs… jpeg and bitmap images. The software converts the image to grayscale. Then you define the maximum and minimum depth of cut, and the software creates the tool paths to carve a 3D relief carving of the images. The 3D lithophane is an example of this type of carving. Vectric’s PhotoVCarve works very well for this. (Other Examples)

The second type of operation is called 2.5D – pocketing, profiling, drilling, and text engraving. These are basically flat features in flat parts. With this type of operation, you can make ribs for your model airplane wings, coasters, Christmas ornaments, wooden clocks, parts for your quadcopters, signs, and plaques, and so on. At only $150, Vectric’sCut2D is the easiest way to get started with these types of parts.

The third type of operation is a 3D carving. This is for more organic shapes with curved surfaces. To do this type of operation, you use a ball end mill. The amount of detail that you get is determined by how small a tool that you use on the finish pass. There are limitations to this type of carving because the tool is always perpendicular to the table. Most 3D carving software will allow you to do 2-sided machining, and also to slice your model into manageable pieces that you can glue together to make objects that are much larger than you CNC router’s work envelope. MeshCam and Cut3D are both great 3D carving programs.

All three of these types of software programs will export g-code that can be run on any CNC router.

PROBOTIX™ is the leader in digital manufacturing with fully assembled precision CNC routers. Contact us today at 844-472-9262 or email support@probotix.com and speak with an Applications Engineer to determine the best CAM software and CNC accessories for your business needs.