I am planning on getting in to CNC machining to aid with some lutherie work that I do. I am starting from a position of no experience, and so wanted to seek advice before over committing and making any bad decisions. It’s going to be low volume work, and so I am more to the hobby end than professional/industrial. I am not going down the route on making larger quantities of the identical components, but, as like components will retain similar properties, I plan to often ‘tweak’ previous CAD designs when creating new designs. I have decided to use Autodesk Fusion 360 as CAD/Cam software, and am making my way through all the online tutorials as well as doing some rough attempts at designing the kinds of things I hope to eventually work on. I don’t yet own a CNC machine, but was thinking that the Ooznest Workbee might be a good candidate - should this cover the majority of guitar related requirements? (I am based in the UK, so UK/EU suppliers will be more convenient). I get the impression that the Workbee is a good learning experience, and there’s also good company and community support. I also understand that rigidity can become an issue with the larger frames and so it can be preferential to have one no larger than necessary, and hence I was thinking the 750x1000mm lead screw version. Is there any good books/sources/advice that people would recommend when starting out as a beginner in to the CAD/CAM/CNC world? Also, does the idea of Fusion 360 & Ooznest Workbee seem like a reasonable path? Many thanks,
I'd recommend running through the free CNC class on Instructables, I found it quite helpful getting started. CNC Class Fusion 360 is a powerful piece of software but I don't find it intuitive to use, at least not yet anyways. Don't give up, keep going back to the tutorials and redo the lessons if necessary. I haven't built a Workbee but judging by the threads here it's a good piece of kit. I think you're on the right path to begin with for both your design software and your router. I will say that no matter what router design you choose there will always be something you will want to change, either in the planning stage, the building stage or after you start using it.
