Our CNC router is able to cut almost anything except ferrous materials (not iron or steel). It has a bed size of 2650x1500x165mm (xyz), so can handle most standard sheet sizes.

A CNC (Computer Numerical Control) router machine is a flat table, with a moving gantry above it (the "x" axis). On the gantry is a cutting head called a spindle motor. This moves along the gantry and is the "y" axis. These two axis are perpendicular to each other. The positioning of the cutting head is based on an x and y coordinate called a cartesian system (like plotting coordinates on a map, or graph), there is also another axis called "z" for a position in height. The x, y and z axis are positioned accurately by drive motors, whose position, direction and speed, are all controlled by dedicated hardware and a computer.

The spindle motor spins a cutting bit at high speed - up to 18,000 rpm. The type of cutting bit used is dependant on what is being cut. The cutting bit is similar to a drilling bit, but it is designed to cut sideways as well as various tip shapes. A small bit can cut (plunge) into the material, and then cut a larger round hole by following a circular path to cut the hole. Square holes, and just about any other odd shape can be cut this way. (note: square holes (or any internal angular cutouts) will always still have a small radius on the inside corners, this is the radius of the cutter used). This radius can be beneficial in adding strength from fracturing or cracking from the corner. However this radius can also get in the way of slotting materials together. If small one-off parts, this can be filed away manually, or for quantity or production runs, you can incorporate special design features to overcome this. See our link to "CNC Panel Joinery" bottom left of our webpages, or click link -  cnc joinery ideas.
The cutting bit also does not have to cut completely through the material, it can cut down, and remove material in layers, producing curved, or straight slots of any width larger than the diameter of the cutting bit used. It can also be moved in a raster (zig-zag) fashion, which will produce a flat surface.
Special software on the computer reads a file called "g code". This is a simple alpha numeric text file which the computer reads line by line, and each line tells the computer and controller to move each of the x, y and z motors to a certain position and at a set speed. This g-code file is created from the original line drawing of the part being cut, and it has extra information added, which governs speed, and also has changes to the tool path called "offsetting". This is where the cutting tool must follow a path inside (for cutout holes) or outside (for profiles) of the actual line to be cut. This offset line is normally half the diameter of the cutting bit used. There are other special codes used for various machine operations.
Most of these processes (code generation/offsetting/etc) are automatic, but each stage of the process is calculated, checked and run by us seperately. We handle all of this on our CAD-CAM (Computer Aided Design to Computer Assisted Manufacturing) computers in house. You don't have to worry, or learn anything about offsetting or g-code!

File formats and vectors (The following is similar to our Laser Cutting information page).

For most cutting we can use any flat 2D "vector" file format. A vector is a CAD drawing format based on points called vectors. These vector points are joined and displayed on your monitor as straight lines and arcs, of various thicknesses and colours. Vector graphics are fully scalable without loosing resolution / detail. Vector shapes can also be colour filled to represent the materials used. However, for running a cutting machine, all we require is lines defining the edge of the cut. This line must be the finest possible (0.1 or better), and be continuous from start to finish. ie, not all broken up into seperate lines, dashes or seperated curves. If they are, we will let you know, and you can fix it at the design stage, rather than us fix it later.
When exporting a file, ready to send to us, please make sure you un-click all the extra options in your export details box. Items like "include thumbnails", and "embed" fonts must be unticked. We just need the basic vector file. Anything extra can corrupt a vector file, and make it unreadable for our systems.

There is a large range of easy to use software that creates vector graphics. The format is shown by the filename extension, and most are "export" options in most software. The best error free common export format we have come across is EPS, if you can, please use it. EPS files should be no more than 500kb in file size. Usually alot smaller. If your eps file is larger, it has been saved non-standard and is probably full of extra picture and graphic information which we do not need. This extra data in the file can cause problems for our machines ability to read, or use the file for a CAM process.

Other formats we can use are CorelDraw - CDR (version14 or earlier), Adobe Illustrator - AI (version CS or earlier), CasMate - SCV, Adobe PDF - vectored pdf only, DXF in it's most basic form, PLT files, which are hpgl - with hpgl PLT files, make sure you check that your curves are curves and not made from lots of shorter flat lines!
Also, make sure there is a mention of at least one measurement in the file, or a bounding box is drawn of a known size. We MUST know this measurement as a double check that your drawing software hasn't resized your drawing for your printer, or plotter, and then we get the wrong size version.

We can usually extract vector lines from dxf exported files from software like Solidworks, however Solidworks exports an odd dxf format which isn't compatable with alot of cnc machining software. The lines and arcs are all seperated, and doubled up, this can cause problems when offsetting, and in generating a consistent "closed" toolpath for the laser to follow. I hope someone can advise a fix, or fix Solidworks.

Adobe Illustrator is another drawing package available, although it produces oversize vector format files. We are able to convert AI files (version CS or earlier) for use with our machines. Corel Draw is another popular drawing package which can print directly  to most laser cutting machines (with the correct driver).

Sketchup (free) can produce vector drawings although a free plugin is required to export a vector file.

We can "nest" (closely arrange) your cutout parts to suit the material and minimise wastage. This can mean we move the parts around on the material, and sometimes "rotating" cutout shapes to fit closer together. We can do this if the material is expensive, or you only have a limited size to use. Note, we cannot rotate cutout parts in the material if the material has a "grain" or linish to it. (most wood grain cutouts look tidier if the grain is running horizontally, and any rotation will ruin the horizontal grain).