CNC Machine Walkthrough: 3D Printer vs Laser vs Table Router Video

It wasn’t that long ago that I was only designing for CNC machines and not actually cutting my own stuff. I had friends cut and ship me stuff to assemble etc… but I never actually did it myself. That changed when I got my ShopBot Desktop from ShopBot Tools and later when I moved to Australia to play around with Trotec Lasers.

Only a few months ago, I got into 3D printing and from all this experience, I decided to make a video for people who are only familiar with one type of CNC machine or are interested in getting involved with multiple as I’ve had the pleasure of doing.

Here’s the transcript of the above video.

A very common question I get on CNCKing.com, probably on a weekly basis is somebody asking me either is a laser better than a router or 3d printer or they think the laser is the best or whatever. People are very confused about the differences between the CNC machines so this video will focus on the differences, costs and benefits of each one.

(intro)

Before we jump into each CNC machine in more detail, let’s see what they all have in common first. One, they all need electricity and two, they all need a computer. The computer controls the CNC machine. So you input the design file, and that tells the CNC machine what to do. Now, let’s look at the first one, the laser cutter and then we’ll look at the table router and after that we’ll look at the 3d printer. So, let’s head off to the shed to look at them in more detail.

(Trotec Speedy 300 by Trotec Laser)

What I have next to me here is a 60 Watt Trotec Speedy 300. Let’s focus on the inside production area so you can really see the differences between a CNC router and CNC laser cutter and engraver.

(bed comes up)

I put two samples in from my Sydney Harbor Bridge to help illustrate the differences between this and a router. What I want you to notice is the inside, it’s a sharp 90 degree angle. That’s something that isn’t possible with a router because you have a round bit. The other thing here is the infinitely small line width. This is the amount of material removed when you do laser cutting.

Now, with a CNC router, you have a much larger it so more material is removed. Also, the lens isn’t actually touching the material, it’s just a beam of light. As a result, you don’t have any thing pushing or pulling or tearing into the material itself. So for hold-down, you don’t need any. All you need to do is slide-in the sheet, and cut away or engrave.

One more thing I want you to notice is the edges, for wood, you always have burning because again, it’s burning through the material. It’s a very hot concentrated beam of light.

(Sydney Harbor Bridge cutting video thanks to Evright.com)

(ShopBot Desktop by ShopBot Tools)

Right next to me is the word’s best wood chipper, it’s called a ShopBot Desktop. You got to wear protective equipment on you because its a very different machine from the laser you saw earlier. Let’s take a look at the work area and focus on the differences.

I hope that the first thing you’ve noticed here is the sacrificial board that I have at the bottom of my ShopBot Desktop. The reason for this is very simple, here is the router, it spins really really fast, and because it has to pull and push and throw itself into the material to cut or engrave it, it would actually cut into your machine if you didn’t have this.

This is good because it means you can have beveled edges and multiple layers cut at the same time, this is bad because the bit itself will eventually wear-out and break. Now, when it does break, it’s a pretty easy process to put a new one in. While for a laser, you only have the tube to worry about and that’s fine for years if not decades.

(upright model shown)

Let’s take a look at this model here, you’ll notice that the inside edges are round, again, if I wanted to I could have put dogbones and have a sharp inner edge but I’ll never have a true 90 degree straight edge like I will with the laser.

Another major difference between a laser and a table router is that for a laser, after the material has been cut or engraved, it’s vaporized as fumes which is easily extracted. This one here you end-up with wood chips in my case and that’s a lot of dust and debris that ends up being on the board itself. In this case, if the bit goes over it again and again, you end-up introducing lots of extra wear and tear on your machine. It’s very important to have a good extraction system, in this case a vacuum cleaner to remove it.

Alright, let’s talk a little about safety with CNC machines. Again, they are machine, they don’t care about you or your feelings, they don’t care if you are touching the machine or not. I find this actually pretty safe. I can’t put my finger into the router unless I’m stupid enough to open it and grab it, then my hand is gone. Whose fault was that? It was my fault. If I decide to have an arm bar with this thing, my arm is broken, again, whose fault is this? It’s my fault.

I find this incredibly safe, the reason is it’s run through a computer and I’m running the computer next to the machine. If something bad happens, usually it’s the bit that breaks, you just pause and then you are fine. You can turn the power off or use one of the emergency switches. Same thing with the laser cutter, it has overides, so if you open the lid the laser will stop running. Or other kinds of machines have protective curtains all the way around them. Now, you can overide them just like I can overide this machine by opening the enclosure and sticking my finger into it and in my opinion, you get what you deserve. Don’t screw around with CNC machines, they don’t care about you and will take off your body parts. Now, let’s look at some video of this machine in action!

(Army Transport Truck cutting video)

(3D Systems Cube)

Now you should be a total expert on CNC lasers and CNC table routers. Now, let’s look at the last machine, the 3D printer. What I have next to me here is a 3D Systems Cube. It’s a wonderful extrusion 3D printer and I’ve done lots of projects with it and will be doing lots more future projects with it.

There are different types of 3D printers, there is this one here that uses PLA or ABS, others use powders or liquids or a mixture of the two. All 3D printers work the same way, they all work layer by layer. Now, that may take a bit of time, this one here took over 10 hours, I think it was closer to 11 to print. Could I make this with a laser? Sure I could, I’d have to have layers, then I’d have to glue them together. It’s possible but it’s a pain. Can I make it with a router? Again, I could do it, I’d probably need a four or five axis machine to do it but that’s beyond the scope of my current abilities and budget.

What’s really nice about this printer is that its print and go. Meaning I press print in my laptop and it goes ahead and does the work. I have this in my living room – did you notice the other machines were in the shed? The reason for this is where’s the exhaust? There is none. The only thing that smells a little bit is it smells like chips but that’s very rare. The other benefit from 3D printing is here’s the material, when it runs out, I take the cartridge out and put a new one in. Another major benefit of 3D printing is the resolution – this model here cannot be made with a laser with inside corners or rounded edges.

Taking a closer look at the build platform on this 3D System’s Cube, you’ll notice its rather small. This is because printing is still very expensive and slow. This model here, even if it’s hallow, probably costs 10-15 dollars worth of material. If I use PLA or ABS, it doesn’t really matter as the costs are roughly the same.

The other thing you’ll notice is safety. There is nothing here to burn me or cut me unless I touch here, which is very hot. This is a very safe machine. When this machine is working, I’m usually on my laptop next to it. I’m not actually touching the machine just like the router or laser. That’s another safety feature that’s built-in to using these kinds of machines.

(PLA Egyptian Pyramid printing video)

Hopefully your head isn’t spinning too much. If you are wondering where to get the files to make things with these CNC machines, the natural place is CNCKing.com. I’ll see you on CNCKing.com and I look forward to talking to you to answer any questions you may have in the comments section below. Talk to you soon and see you later.

Special thanks to Evright.com, ShopBot Desktop and Trotec Laser.