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3D Design and 3D Carving using Digital Tools I’ve been writing about Digital Woodworking and CNCs for a while now and when it comes to techniques, for the most part, I’ve kept the topics focused [...]

Cutting parts with a CNC is a 2.5D process. It’s not quite 3D and a bit more than 2D. When you’re cutting parts, the third axis on a CNC —the Z axis, just needs to cut at selected depths. You …

Last December when I started this series on the Maslow CNC, my goal was to evaluate the $350 kit with a focus on how it might fit into a hobbyist woodworker’s world — the kind of machine a [...]

The Maslow CNC is a CNC kit that costs just $350. For that price, you should expect a few compromises. For one thing, you have to put it together. Of course you’ll get the key mechanical, [...]

A workbench designed for hand tool woodworkers but made (partially) with a CNC. Each bench features a unique 3D carved leg vise. Here’s a video introduction into how they were made. The [...]

A workbench designed for hand tool woodworkers but made (partially) with a CNC. It features a 3D carved leg vise and a workbench top designed to improve ergonomics. I designed the BARN workbench [...]

The BARN Workbench is named for a community group of woodworkers and other artisans. BARN is the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network located on Bainbridge Island. The island is directly across [...]

The Maslow is not a conventional CNC. It’s kit based, and costs less than $500. $350 if you’ve got a couple of 2” x 4”s and some plywood to throw in. If you’re new to the [...]

Learning about CNCs at the Marc Adam’s School of Woodworking Furniture manufacturers and large cabinets shops have been using digital tools and CNCs for decades. But, for hobbyists and [...]

In this series on mills and bits for digital woodworkers, I introduced the basics of end mill and router bit design. If you missed it, here’s the introduction and parts one, two and three. With [...]

In part two of this series, several techniques and tools were shown for accurately setting origin points. You can use line-of-sight, feel, extrapolation from a known diameter, edge finders, [...]

In the first post in this CNC Skills series on Origin Points, I emphasized how critical reference positions are for digital woodworkers. When you’re working on a drawing in CAD, the origin point [...]