Wood CNC modmaking?

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Gowanus

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It's probably better you decided not to get a cnc router for your apartment... I ran one for a year recently while working at a sign shop. They're incredibly loud and create a super fine dust that will coat every surface it's allowed to reach. You really need a dust collector with any CNC router, which adds so much more noise.

That said, there are desktop models that have full enclosures with dust collection that are popular in the Maker community, a small unit would be easier to sound proof, by building it into a cabinet. And a lot of the smaller desktop units are built with ease in mind, no more writing gcode, you can just export cad files or eps files right to the router software.

You can probably create your files and work out the details, and then bring them to a sign shop with your materials and have them cut your files for fairly cheap. A lot of sign shops get stuck in the rut of just cutting letters out all day, so they are often happy to try something new on their machines. It helps the operator learn something new and keeps it from getting boring. Depends on where you live though, sign shops here in the city charge a lot more for router time than it's worth. You can also upload files to shapeways and have them cut or 3d printed in a variety of materials, including metals and ceramics.
 

Gowanus

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oh and I was going to add, one of the best ways to start out with 3d parts is to make 2d parts... it's way easier to make straight through cuts and cut out profiles than to make things with exacting depths. you could make a housing like a slice of an extrusion, and slap a front and back cover on it... a lot of box mods seem to be made this way. It's a good way to go, very forgiving, especially on a machine that has low tolerances or is out of level, like what you might find at a sign shop.
 
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