Designing for CNC

H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

WHY CNC MILL?

CNC milling is an ideal fabrication method for planar

parts and complex shapes that can be cut out of
sheet goods. CNC Milling can be used to produce
parts out of a wide variety of materials including
wood, plastics, and pvc, and can provide more
accurate and reliable results than cutting the same
parts by hand.

CNC milling is also ideal for producing parts with

pockets, roundovers, and other chamfers, or for
engraving large images into planar surfaces using
a v-carve operation. In certain circumstances, CNC
milling can be used to flaten out uneven surfaces or
mill material down to a precise thickness.

Finally, CNC milling can be used to perform detailed

engraving on plaques and other hard, flat surfaces
GET IN TOUCH such as circut-boards.

CONTACT US
[email protected]
L I M I TA T I O N S

While CNC milling is an ideal solution for many projects,

it is not a one stop-shop. Our Three-Axis machines are
unsuitable for use with the following:
• Materials over 2 inches in thickness
• Materials less than 1/8 inch in thickness 3
SUPPLIED MATERIALS • Carving or Pocketing into uneven or warped
material
Have questions about a material, or don’t see yours listed?
Contact us for more information! 2 • Parts with sharp inside corners 4
• Non-planar elements and complex 3d geometry
• MDF • Acrylic
While Some CNC mills are designed for machining
• Plywood • Polycarbonate
complex 3-dimensional parts, our equipment is best
• Natural Woods 1 • Rigid Foam Board
suited for 2 and 2.5 dimensional geometry (think flat
• Expanded PVC
pack furniture). We can do 3D, but it's got a lot of
• HDPE Plastic
drawbacks and other manufacturing methods are
• ABS Plastic
generally a better option.

SUBMIT YOUR JOB AT

https://hammerspacehobby.com/forge/

1 3
natural Materials must be of consistat thickness with little to no warping. Milling on thinner materials may be available for small parts
2 4
Customer supplied materials may warant an additional surcharge Sharp inside corners can be converted to dogbones for use in CNC milling
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

WHAT IS A CN C ROU TER

C.N.C. Stands for “Computer Numerical Control,” which

is basically a fancy way of saying that there is a robot
operating the tool instead of a person. A CNC router,
then, is exactly what the name implies: a Router - just
like the hand router you might buy at the hardware store
- that is being operated by a robot.

For the most part, anything that a well trained

woodworker might be able to do with a hand router, a
CNC Router can do as well, There are some limitations
to this, based on the design of the robot, but for the
most part, it holds true. And because robots are better at
precision work, or repeated tasks. CNC Routing is ideal
for getting exact cuts every time.

Our CNC Machine is a 3-axis robot. That means it can

move the router left to right, backwards and forwards,
and up and down. It cannot rotate the router around the
piece or cut into it at an angle - although sometimes
special tooling can be used to accomplish similar
results.

Because of these limitations, our Machine is best used

for making planar parts and 2.5 D elements, like you
might cut out of a sheet of plywood.

WHAT IS 2.5D?

“2.5 D” is a common term for describing parts and designs that while
technically 3-dimensonal, do not include any complex curves in the
z-axis (up and down direction) and can be machined without turning or
rotating the part. Think flat pack furniture.

This includes parts that have flat pockets and insets cut into them at
specific depths, and even parts with certain types of round-overs and
chamfers which can be applied using specialized tooling. But not parts
with complex curves in more than one axis or parts that have undercuts
or need to be flipped and rotated to machine different sides.
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H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

POCKET OR PROFILE?

There are two main types of cuts or operations that a

CNC router can make: Pocket and Profile cuts.

Pocket cuts remove material inside of a shape, and are

used to create recessed areas or empty areas in a part.
Because a pocket operation removes lots of material,
they generally take more time and are more expensive.

Profile cuts trace the outline of a shape, or cut along a

line. Because the tooling used by a CNC routers can be
quite large in diameter, profile cuts are generally made
to cut either along the inside or outside edge of a shape,
although they can also cut centered along a line.

Generally, profile cuts are faster and less expensive to

make, because there is less material being removed.
Because pocket operations are more time consuming
and thus expensive, they are only used when necessary.

At Hammerspace Forge, we will generally help

determine the optimal cuts to produce your part as
designed, but knowing these terms can be helpful in
discussing your design, and explaining what the finished
part should look like.

CLOSED SHAPES

Because profile and pocket operations are both generally calculated

based on shapes - cutting either inside or outside of them - it is
important that the lines in your drawings form closed shapes.

Most vector drawing software will create closed shapes by default, but
drafting software like autoCAD often create or export shapes as a series
of unconnected line segments. To help make sure that your drawings will
be suitable for CNC milling, we highly recommend that you follow the
steps outlined in our “Preparing 2D files” guide.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

INSIDE CORNERS

Because CNC routers use round tooling or bits, they can

cut outside corners without a problem, but will leave a
radius of material on inside corners equal to the radius
of the bit. This is one of the main reasons that detailed
designs require smaller tooling - because larger tool
radiuses mean larger radiuses on inside corners, and
more loss of detail.

This can also create issues when designing parts

that need to fit together, such as slots or finger joints,
because these radiuses will prevent parts from meshing.
To solve this problem, cnc designed often add overcuts
where parts need to slide or fit together. An overcut tells
the cnc machine to remove a small amount of additional
material past the edge of the these inside corners,
ensuring that parts fit together correctly.

There are a few different ways this material can be

removed, but the most common styles are “T-bone” and
“Dog-bone” overcuts. T-bones remove excess material
in only one direction, and can sometimes be hidden by
the actual assembly of the pieces, while Dog-bones
remove material in both directions, but are generally
less noticeable even when visible.

A L L O WA N C E A N D F I T

Woods, plastics, and even metals can expand

and contract with heat and humidity, or be
compressed by the force of machining, causing
slight variances between the design and the
actual part. Standard wear and tear on the tooling
or the machine can also create small variances.

We find that an allowance of 0.02” is usually

sufficient to make sure parts fit together precisely
when working with our machines.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

TOOLING: BASICS

One of the most important elements of CNC routing is

choosing the correct tooling, or “bit” for the job. There
is a nearly infinite variety of tooling available for CNC
routers, used for everything from making strait cuts
through the material, to adding chamfers, round overs,
and radiuses to inside or outside corners. There are even
tools specifically for adding keyhole pockets like on the
back of a picture-frame, or milling specific profiles into
the side of an object.

The tooling used to machine a part has a huge impact

not just on what can be machined, but in how long it
takes to do so. Smaller tools can mill finer details, but
must be run at slower speeds and make more passes
to cut through the material. Larger bits are faster, but
produce large radiuses on inside corners, and cant get
into small places.

At Hammerspace forge, we will help select the tooling

best suited for any job, and can use multiple tools for
a single job if needed. But when designing for CNC, it
is always worth keeping in mind that the smaller the
tooling required to cut the design effectively, the more
time it will take to machine, and the more it will cost.

DESIGN FOR THE TOOL

A common issue that we often see with submitted designs is that they
have been designed for the digital environment, rather than taking into
account the physical process that will be used to machine the parts.
There is a definitive limit on the amount of detail that can be achieved
with certain processes like CNC Milling, and often more importantly, the
closer you get to that limit, the less room there is for error, and the more
expensive the part can be to machine. That’s why, whenever possible, it
is best practice to design your parts around the limitations of the tools
you will be using. We are always happy to answer questions about the
capabilities of our machines
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

T O O L I N G : K E RF A N D RES O LU T I O N

When designing for CNC manufacture, it is important to

take into account the size of tooling that will be required
to machine your parts. As the tool travels through the
material, it will remove a certain amount of material
based on the size of the bit. This is called the “Kerf”

Larger bits have a larger kerf, meaning that more

spacing is required between parts on the same sheet.
We generally recommend at least a 1/2” of material be
left between parts after a cut to ensure there is enough
“meat” left to support the parts in the sheet and prevent
them from shifting during the milling operation. If you
are designing for 1/4” tooling, this means that your parts
need be at least 1” apart to account for the additional
1/4” of material that will be removed around each part.

The size of the tooling used to machine your part also

determines the effective “resolution” for fine details on
the final product. Large 1/2” bits can take off more
material at once, but they have a lower “resolution” than
smaller, more precise tooling such as 1/8”. The smaller
the bit used to machine your parts, the more detail will
be visible in the final product.

U S I N G A C L E A R I N G PA S S

In in situations where a higher level of detail is required, but machining

the part using smaller tooling would be prohibitively expensive, we can
use what is called a “clearing pass” to help reduce costs. A clearing pass
is used to rough out the shape and remove the majority of the required
material from a design using a larger bit, before milling the final edge
and detail work using smaller tooling.

We apply a small up-charge for this sort of operation, because it requires

us to manually change out the tooling on the machine between passes,
but on large detailed parts, it is often the most cost effective solution.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

TOOLING: SPEED AND DEPTH

While smaller tooling may be more ideal for precise

work and fine detail, these smaller bits have severe
limitations of their own.

As a general rule, the smaller your tooling, the more

fragile it is, and the less stress it can be put under before
breaking. This means that smaller bits, such as 1/8th”
end mills, have to be run at significantly lower speeds
than larger 1/2” bits. What’s more, smaller bits also take
off less material at a time, meaning they require more
passes to mill down to the same depth, or to remove
large swaths of material when pocketing. This means
that using fine tooling on a job can be prohibitively
expensive.

It is also worth noting that the smaller the diameter

of a milling bit, the shorter the bit generally is as well.
This means that certain tool sizes have a limitation on
how deep they can cut into the material. A 1/8” bit, for
example, cannot generally be used to cut deeper than
3/4” of an inch into any material, while a 1/2” bit can cut
2” to 3” deep.

CHOOSING YOUR TOOL SIZE

We keep a wide selection of tooling on hand at our shop, Tooling Maximum Depth
including strait end-mills, ball-nose mills, v-bits and
engraving tools. We will help choose the best tooling to End Mill
machine your parts effectively, but you can reference to • 0.125” (1/8 in) 0.75” (3/4 in)
chart to the right to help identify what size tooling will be • 0.25” (1/4 in) 1.25” (1 and 1/4 in)
required based on the thickness of your material • 0.375” (3/8 in) 1.75” (1 and 3/4 in)
• 0.5” (1/2 in) 2.00” (2 in)
If you have questions about specialized tooling or V-Bit
operations, just ask! • 90°, 60°, 45°, 15° 0.75” (3/4 in)
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

HOLD DOWN REQUIREMENTS

Because CNC Milling involves applying large amounts

of force to rapidly remove material from the sheet or
supplied blank, It is important that the sheet or blank
is securely fastened to the machine bed in order to
prevent it from shifting or bowing up away from the
machine bed and potentially damaging your parts or our
machine

Because of this, we generally require at least an inch

of blank space around the edge of the sheet where we
can safely screw through the material to attach it to the
machine bed. If these attachment points are too close
to the part, The machine can run into them when cutting
damaging both the machine and the material.

In cases where screwing through the material or blank

is not possible - usually because the finished part is
the exact dimensions of the provided material - we
make use of external hold-down clamps to ensure the
material cannot shift. However these clamps are often
not as secure as attaching the blank directly to the
machine bed, and require much more time to set up,
increasing the setup fee for your job.

USING A PLACEMENT JIG

Often when working with small or irregular blanks, it can be difficult

to ensure perfect alignment of the part on the machine bed. In these
situations, we will first mill a placement jig that lets us align the blank in
an exact known position, so that we can be sure it will mill correctly. Jigs
like this are also used anytime repeatability is an issue, as they allow us
to ensure that every blank is milled exactly the same.

Because creating a secure hold-down jig can often take longer than
machining the actual part, we will let you know if a jig is necessary, and
how much of an additional charge it will be to create.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

TA B S A N D T R I M M I N G

To ensure that parts do not shift or move within the

sheet during any of the machining operations, our
software adds tabs along the edges of your parts, which
hold them securely in the sheet or blank until the job is
complete.

These tabs are small and relatively thin, but must be cut
to separate your parts from the sheet or material blank,
and trimmed to remove them from the part. In most
cases we will perform these operations for you, but in
some cases, we may suggest leaving these tabs in place
to ensure the safe transport of fragile parts.

If you choose to perform these operations yourself,

we recommend cutting your parts free from the
surrounding material using a sharp knife or oscillating
saw. Once your parts are separated from the sheet, the
tabs can be easily removed by using a trim router with a
follow bit, or sanded off by hand.

If you have any questions regarding tabs, or would

prefer to have your parts left in the sheet for transport,
just let us know!

ADDIN G ROUNDOVERS BY HAND

One of the most common finishing techniques for CNC parts is to

remove the sharp edges of the part by adding a roundover, or strait-
chamfer to the part. While this can be done using the CNC router, Our
machine is only capable of adding round or chamfers to one side of your
parts.

More often than not, it is cheaper and easier to apply these finish edges
by hand using a trim or table router with a profile bit. If this is an operation
you are interested in having us perform on your parts, let us know and
we can include it in your quote!
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

V- C A RV E

V-Carve operations are a special type of pocketing

which allow the machine to achieve a higher level of
detail than normally available by using a tapered “V-Bit”
rather than a standard Strait Bit, and milling to very
specific depths the create surface cuts of varying width.

Unlike other engraving or pocketing operations, the

depth of a V-carve operation is dependant on the
width of the subtracted area, and varies across the
entire design. The finer the detail of a particular area,
the shallower the tool will cut. This depth can also be
controlled to some degree by altering the angle of the
bit. Steeper angles will produce deeper cuts, even on
small details

V-Carve operations are ideal for signs and other large-

scale engraving jobs, as they are generally much faster
and provide more detail than standard pocketing.

They can also be great for milling out designs that will
later be filled with resin.

N O ROOM FOR ERROR

Because V-carve operations rely on the relationship between cut depth

and the angle of the bit to determine the width of cut, there is little to no
room for error when it comes to the thickness and height of the material.
Variations of even fractions of an inch in material height can drastically
alter the size and shape of the finished cut. Any warp or bow in the
material can ruin the design.

Because material blanks for V-Carving must be exceptionally flat, we

recommend using high grade engineered products, or surfacing natural
materials such as hardwoods on the same day that they will be routed.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

S U R FA C I N G

Because CNC Routers are capable of incredibly high

amounts of precision, they can be used to machine
surfaces to a set height and thickness, or to flatten
large areas such as tabletops before performing other
operations. This process is called surfacing.

Surfacing operations use a large or specialized tool

to make wide passes back and forth over the material
to machine it to a consistent height or thickness. The
result is similar to what can be achieved using a planer
or joiner on wood, however the CNC Router is capable
of surfacing a much wider variety of materials - from
natural hardwoods to resins and plastics - and can
handle much larger pieces of material than a planer or
joiner.

It is worth Noting, however, that surfacing large areas

using the CNC router is expensive. Because the machine
has to make multiple passes over the entire surface of
the part using a 1/2” to 2” bit, Surfacing can take hours
or days depending on the size of the part and how much
material must be removed to create an even surface.

M A N U A L S U R FA C I N G
Because surfacing large pieces like tabletops on the CNC router can be so
expensive, It is often more viable to do by hand.

At Hammerspace Workshop, we have a large tabletop surfacing guide set

up so that this operation can be done manually by passing
a hand router back and forth over your material in the same way that the
CNC router would do. This is one of many tools available for use by
Hammerspace members at no additional charge.

Visit https://hammerspacehobby.com/sign-up/ to see available

membership options.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

COMPLEX CURVES

Complex curves include any sort of 3D geometry that

cannot be easily represented using simple 2D drawings.
This includes things like smooth-surface topography,
organic sculptures, or any shape that includes smooth
curves in the vertical plane

While our Machine is technically capable of milling

theses complex curves, doing so is prohibitively
expensive both because of the amount of material
that must be removed, and because the job must be
run multiple times using progressively finer tooling to
produce any approximation of a smooth surface.

This means that milling complex curves on our 3-axis

CNC can take days to produce a finished part, and that
sort of cut time gets expensive fast. Undercuts and
other 3D features may not even be possible with 3-axis
mills as well.

If you have small part or designs that include these

sorts of complex curves and features, you might
consider using our 3D printing services instead.

CREATING TOPOGRAPH Y

Topographical models are a common request for milling on our CNC

router, and while our router can produce these models, the amount of
time required to mill them, and the amount of waste material involved
means that CNC Routing is rarely the best tool for the job.

We generally recommend laser-cutting stepped topography models

out of layers of chipboard or similar thin material. This is much faster and
produces much less waste than CNC Routing, and the laser cutter can
even engrave lines to denote landscaping details like parking spaces.
 Designing for CNC
H A M M E R S PA C E F O R G E • 2020

SUBMIT TING YOUR FILES

The last step is to save and submit your files. To make sure we
understand what you are sending us and your files are usable on our
end, here are some tips for how to label and organize your files.

Line Colors
If your files contain lines and shapes in multiple colors, make sure to
label what each color means. You can either do this inside the files, in
a separate text document, or on the job submission page.

Combine Files
Whenever possible combine your 2D designs into one file with clear
labeling. Try not to turn off the visibility of objects or obscuring them,
as we may overlook hidden parts or they may cause issues when
importing. Using multiple pages or art boards is fine.

Group by Material
If your job includes parts to be cut out of multiple types, thicknesses,
or colors of material, group all the parts that should be cut from the
same material together and label them. Alternatively, you can save all
the parts for your job that need to be cut particular material and
thickness in a single file and name it appropriately as well.

Create Sheets based on Machine and Blank Size

Each of our machines can handle material in different sized blanks,
and requires different amounts of spacing between parts, and around
the edge of the material. See Our laster Cutting, CNC Routing, and
CNC Plasma Cutting guides for the requirements for each machine,
especially If you are supplying your own material. Check out our
materials page for what we stock and our standard blank sizes.

SUBMIT YOUR JOB AT

https://hammerspacehobby.com/forge/