John C Black

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	This is the CNC Router I use. You should be able to rent time on one of these for less than $100 per hour and your local college may have one available for student use.

	Here are the steps : 1. Get your Model or Strong Back design into the CAM Software. I saved my Rhino file as a .dxf file. Some CAM software will read Rhino files directly. These designs that you are going to cut should lay out the parts as simple lines on a flat rectangular representing a piece of plywood. The lines and geometries need to be broken periodically to create 1/4" "Tabs" which are not cut so the pieces are held in position during the cutting process.

	2. Start your CAM software. We used a very old copy of Master Cam (1997 ?). It allowed us to open the .dxf file we saved above.

	3. Pick the cutting tool. I used a 7/32" spiral cut router bit to cut the Model and Strong Back. These are available as upcut or downcut. Use downcut unless your router has a spring loaded foot around the bit to hold down the work. If you have the foot, the upcut bit is probably the thing to use. In our Master Cam software you identify the cutting tool and the software knows the offset needed to cut along a line.

	4. Tell the software where the tool is supposed cut in relation to the line : Right, Left, Inside, Outside, etc. Then tell the software how high above the work the bit needs to be to travel, how deep it needs to be to cut. (you put the plywood on a sheet of particle board or other scrap so that you can cut all the way through the plywood and a bit into the scrap.) Then pick the lines or geometries that should be cut this way.

	This step is repeated several times until all the cut types and all the geometries have been identified.

	5 Tell the software in what order to make the cuts. Think about minimizing router travel and keeping the work strong enough to keep positioning as you cut.


	6. Save the project file and generate the CNC code. Here is a sample CNC file. Our router esentially uses HP plotter commands.

	7. Set up the Router. Scrap sheet on the table, Plywood to cut on top of the scrap. Both held strongly in position. Correct bit in the Router. Turn on Router.

	8. Set the level of the surface of the work. I usually set the surface about 2" above the work so I can do a dry run without the bit cutting.

	9. Cut the Work



	10. Take the finished product and use a saw to cut it loose from the tabs.


	11. Assemble your pieces



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