#computer numerical control machine

[elen-aranel]

I simply cannot see a post about cnc without being disappointed that someone isn’t making something cool on their machine

[momoguido]

The best thing about telling people I'm going to school for CNC is scanning the room to see which people get visibly uncomfortable.

[afriendofblahaj]

every day the urge to cnc a metal core for a normal plastic beyblade and smoke a bunch of kids grows stronger

Beyblade heavyweight division

[swetatiwarib2b]

Top CNC Machines for Small Businesses and Startups: A Guide to the Best Options for Growth

In today’s rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines have become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a small business owner or a startup looking to scale, investing in the right CNC equipment can be a game-changer. These machines offer precision, automation, and cost-efficiency, which are critical factors for small businesses trying to compete in a competitive market.

If you’re considering a CNC machines for your business, it’s important to understand the options available and how they align with your needs. In this blog, we’ll walk through the top CNC machines suitable for small businesses and startups, helping you make an informed decision.

1. Nomad 3 by Carbide 3D

For startups looking to create high-precision, small-to-medium-scale parts, the Nomad 3 by Carbide 3D is an excellent choice. It’s a compact desktop CNC mill, which makes it a perfect fit for small workshops or even home-based operations.

Key Features:

Compact Design: The Nomad 3 is small, making it an ideal choice for limited workspaces.

Ease of Use: It comes pre-assembled, so you can start machining right out of the box. Plus, its user-friendly software, Carbide Create, allows you to quickly create and modify designs.

Precision: With a robust build, it’s known for producing high-quality parts with tight tolerances.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: It’s an affordable solution for businesses that want to produce custom prototypes, small production runs, or intricate parts without the need for large-scale CNC equipment.

2. Tormach 1100M

Tormach has become synonymous with affordable yet professional CNC machinery, and the Tormach 1100M is one of its standout models. This small but powerful CNC mill is built for precision and reliability, offering great versatility for a variety of small business needs.

Key Features:

Increased Capacity: The 1100M offers a larger work envelope compared to desktop machines, with a 28” x 18” x 16” travel.

High Speed: The machine has a high-speed spindle and a powerful motor that can handle tougher materials, making it ideal for milling metal parts.

Expandability: Tormach machines are known for their ability to expand with additional options like tool changers, rotary tables, and more.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: For businesses looking to grow and scale quickly, the Tormach 1100M offers an affordable entry into CNC milling with room for upgrades. It’s perfect for businesses that need to create high-precision parts with metals and other tough materials.

3. Shapeoko 4 by Carbide 3D

The Shapeoko 4 is another CNC router from Carbide 3D that offers a lot of versatility for small businesses and startups, particularly those involved in woodworking, plastic, or light metal cutting.

Key Features:

Large Working Area: With a 16” x 16” x 3�� cutting area, the Shapeoko 4 allows you to create larger parts or multi-part projects.

Durability: Its rigid frame and precision components ensure accurate cuts even with demanding materials.

Upgrades and Customization: The machine is designed with upgrades in mind, allowing you to add accessories like automatic tool changers or larger worktables.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: The Shapeoko 4 is an affordable entry into CNC machining with the flexibility to handle a variety of materials. It’s an excellent choice for small businesses involved in prototyping, custom fabrication, or even small production runs.

4. X-Carve Pro by Inventables

Inventables’ X-Carve Pro offers advanced CNC routing technology while being accessible for small businesses and startups. This machine is suitable for a wide range of materials, including wood, plastics, and soft metals.

Key Features:

Precision and Power: The X-Carve Pro boasts a high-performance spindle, powerful motors, and a robust frame, allowing for precision work.

Versatility: With a large work area of up to 4’ x 2’ x 5”, it’s perfect for businesses that need to create larger-scale projects without compromising accuracy.

Easy-to-Use Software: The X-Carve Pro comes with Easel software, which simplifies the design process and helps you quickly convert 2D designs into 3D projects.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: Its versatility and the ability to work with a wide range of materials make it perfect for a variety of industries, from woodworking to product prototyping. The X-Carve Pro is ideal for small businesses that require both precision and flexibility.

5. Snapmaker 2.0

The Snapmaker 2.0 is an all-in-one CNC machine that combines 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC carving into a single unit. It’s perfect for startups that need a versatile machine capable of handling different production methods.

Key Features:

Multi-Functionality: The Snapmaker 2.0 can perform 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC carving, making it a great investment for businesses that require multiple capabilities in one machine.

Modular Design: Its modular components allow easy upgrades and expansions based on your business’s growing needs.

User-Friendly Interface: The touchscreen interface makes controlling and monitoring the machine easy for beginners and experts alike.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: Startups and small businesses can benefit from the Snapmaker’s versatility, particularly if they need a multi-functional tool for prototyping or small-scale production. It saves space and money while offering a range of capabilities.

6. Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine

For small businesses or startups in the electronics industry, the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine is a game-changer. This machine allows you to create professional-grade printed circuit boards (PCBs) in-house, saving on outsourcing costs and reducing lead times.

Key Features:

Precision Milling: With a 0.005” resolution, the Bantam Tools PCB mill offers excellent precision for PCB manufacturing.

Easy Setup: This machine is designed to be easy to set up and use, even for those without prior CNC experience.

Robust Software: The software is intuitive and helps you convert your designs into milling paths effortlessly.

Why It’s Great for Small Businesses: PCB manufacturing can be expensive, and the Bantam Tools mill enables small businesses to produce their own PCBs without relying on third-party services. This is perfect for startups in electronics or IoT hardware development.

Final Thoughts

Investing in the right CNC machine is crucial for the growth and success of your small business or startup. Each of the machines listed above offers unique features and capabilities suited to different industries and needs. Whether you’re a maker, manufacturer, or hobbyist, there’s a CNC machine that fits your budget, workspace, and production requirements.

Take the time to evaluate your business's needs, determine the materials you’ll work with, and consider future scalability when choosing your CNC machine. With the right equipment, your small business can enjoy the benefits of precision, efficiency, and innovation, leading to more opportunities for growth and success.

[doubleca5t]

So the acronym CNC also stands for "computer numerated control", and CNC machines are very common in precision manufacturing. I work with them regularly and its always jarring to be reminded thats also what the rapeplay kink is called.

Girl who works in precision manufacturing with a wife who's into noncon clocks in for a long day of CNC and then clocks out and goes home for some CNC

[la-principessa-nuova]

I just made a seagull noise laughing when i learned that CNC stands for Consensual Non-Consent in addition to Computer Numerical Control.

Legitimately if someone asked me if I wanted to try CNC prior to this moment, it would have been like:

Them: Hey, would you be interested in trying, ummm…. CNC? 👉👈

Me: Yeah, absolutely! 😃

Them: Really? 😯

Me: Yeah, I’ve been wanting to try it for a while actually. But, you know, the machines are so expensive.

Them: The machines??? 🤨

[fujouppy]

googled how does cnc work and got hit with 80 reddit posts talking about computer numerical control machines instead. not what i wanted but cool

[cute-girls-from-vns-anime-manga]

uoh consensual nonconsent machine

Its computer numerated controled machine, but it certainly doesnt understand consent when accidents happen and it decided to take someones appendages for itself.

Machinists and IT guys be shaking hands over this and "closed beta test" aka cbt

[canmom]

a theme in art that fascinates me is imagining the ultra-long-duration future of humanity, in which our forms become increasingly abstracted and strange to us.

i encountered pop-rock duo Zager and Evans' song In the Year 2525 from, naturally, a Fallout: New Vegas music mod. idk if this embed will work for you or if it gets copyright-slapped, you might have to click...

...but anyway, it follows an imagined 10,000 year future of humanity in ~1010 year increments, projecting various things that might occur. its concerns are, naturally, terribly 1969: babies selected from the bottom of a 'long glass tube', behaviour-controlling pills, bodies atrophying because everything done by machines, at some point God shows up - not a mention of computers, they weren't even on the horizon. the song has spawned numerous parodies and variants, from a Jewish version to the theme song of 90s American action show Cleopatra 2525.

I feel like what makes it work is the tone: the rising and falling minor arcs, the sense of resignation in the lyrics. far more than the specific scenarios imagined, which are a bit corny, there is that glimpse of the disorienting feeling that the forms we inhabit now are just an emphemeral passing phase, and how vast the possibility space of life could be.

Man After Man (1990) by Dougal Dixon takes another approach: using the tools of speculative biology, Dixon tries to imagine all sorts of strange hominids that could emerge out of us. you most likely know it from the Seasons Greasons meme, in which we become a screaming furry ape biting a larger, fluffier screaming ape. but Dixon has many weirder ideas. CM Kosemen went for a similar project in 2006 titled All Tomorrows. I regret to say I have read neither of those books, so I'll have to leave it at that.

of course, the GOAT on this subject is Don Hertzfeldt (who we visited way back on AN89). starting with his film The Meaning of Life, which I recently watched at the GSFF, the long-term weird future of humanity became a recurring central theme in Hertzfeldt's work.

Hertzfeldt's film is almost entirely without dialogue. a huge variety of human characters walk across the screen to and fro; then the timeline accelerates and increasingly weird designs appear, interspersed with representation of timing of the solar system. at the end, two characters have a discussion in a nonsense language where only words that vaguely resemble 'meaning of life' can be discerned. the larger character seems to scoff at the smaller one's question, leaving the smaller staring out at the universe.

of course, the best-known version is probably that time he did an intro for the Simpsons, which speedruns a similar idea in about a minute and a half.

like with the eponymous phrase in The Meaning of Life, the film depicts some kind of heavily decayed signal being preserved even as everything else changes around it. it throws in a lot of Rejected-style surrealism for humour, but there's still a core affirmation: 'still love you homar', text reading 'I will never forget you' - a willful absurdity in the face of everything else arounding it underlining that entropy will win and everything must become unrecognisable.

the substance of the theme becomes more concrete in Hertzfeldt's three-part film It's Such A Beautiful Day, which tells the slow, relentless story of a character losing his memories, identity and cognitive abilities to dementia. to spoil the final moment of the film, which you should really watch... at the last minute, as it seems certain the character will finally die, the film - which has been entirely grounded so far - swerves into narrating the character's immortality, outliving humanity and watching until the heat death of the universe. it is performed as a desperate and tragic choice by the narrator to switch into a different story, but it also serves to underline by its absurdity how all of our defining information will decohere and our fate is the same as Bob's.

(I won't go into World of Tomorrow for now, though it is probably Hertzfeldt's best work, because I really need to rewatch it - I don't feel confident summarising it and its relevance to the theme right now lol)

I have a strange desire to see what happens next for humanity. 'I' get to bear witness to this brief... maybe 70, 80 years if average life expectancy stays where it is. I can absorb as much information as I can into the whorls of my brain's neural network, encode it in various communicable forms so that what I have learned and what I value can outlive me. but once I'm gone, only memories of me and artefacts I have left behind can continue to affect the world. I might still have a distinguishable causal effect on the world in decades, perhaps hundreds of years after I'm gone. after that my existence is indistinguishable from noise. and subjective-experience wise, I don't get to see it anyway!

but what if I didn't go? what if we got to live forever?

when I imagine getting to see the far future, I imagine the current me getting to see it, as if I got to step in a time machine. but the creature I become will be native to that time period.

let us imagine the set of states available to a brain. we can provisionally think of it comprising a dynamics model and stores of information such as memories, but that might prove insufficient. regardless: these things in combination learn to build an approximate model of the outside world and my place in it. they evolve with time. storing new memories causes older ones to decay gradually. the dynamics model is reinforced by the habits of thinking it performs.

it is a theorem that a one-dimensional system undergoing a random walk will eventually visit every possible state available to it an infinite number of times. but a 3D system is only 34% likely to return to its starting point, and an N-dimensional system becomes increasingly unlikely to ever return there as the dimensions increase. moreover, any two points undergoing a random walk in a high-dimensional space will grow infinitely far apart in the same way.

if we imagine the evolution of the brain as being like a random walk (perhaps through some lower-dimensional latent space rather than the space of all possible neuron firings, except the latent space and architecture may well change as the brain learns new environments and the possibility to self-modify comes into existence)... I guess that means that in the long durée, 'I' will become increasingly alien to the current me, and also everyone I know presently. what difference does it make that one person in a hundred thousand years has a special causal chain leading back to the 'me' that exists now, and another doesn't?

you could say there is some anchor or attractor in the space, some persistent life goal or set of values or 'inner law', which you would orbit even as the world transforms drastically around you. we try to stay consistent with ourselves, after all. but my experience is: dubious. I have changed a lot in some ways, less so in others; themes from when I was a lot younger seem to recur unexpectedly. I can read a story I wrote a decade ago and still recognise the voice of it. but it feels like it is a set of different timescales of change rather than anything being fundamentally immutable.

replication, attractor states, the nebulous goal-seeking structures that are being called 'diverse intelligence': these things can keep a pattern around. but only so long.

in one timeline, I die at a distinct point: all the processes shut down more or less at once, the organising principle decoheres, and the assembly of matter ceases to be an organism as it was just a moment earlier. in another timeline, 'I' disappear gradually as memories are overwritten and by brain learns to act differently; there is no definite point where I definitively cease to be the same person.

(some human relationships end abruptly, such as in a big fight, or a death. others end through a gradual divergence. I have experienced this many times in even the short period I've been alive. sometimes though, a stable feedback loop keeps the two people close over a very long period, even as they change. these feel special, they accumulate far more memories, they are more painful if they break. two or more humans might live happily together for 70 years, easily enough. but could a relationship last indefinitely? over billions of years?)

so what sort of mind could take it all in? comprehend all the different eras and forms?

I think about associative memory. to crudely oversimplify, we consolidate and store short-term memories accumulated through a day during sleep into a long-term form. kirsanov says they go into the neocortex but I am not sure this is as settled as I thought; it doesn't really matter. when awake, we retrieve memories associatively: something will 'remind you of' something else that might be relevant. however, it would follow that only so much information can be retrieved for processing at once.

to make the inevitable analogy to artificial neural networks and computers, we don't have anything so simple or precise as a 'context window', but at any given time I feel like there must be only so much 'bandwidth' to pull in additional memories into the working memory 'cache'. imagine if you could have a vast 'library' of semantic and episodic memories, and look up something relevant very quickly, but you can only 'read one book' (or a few books) at a time. and the way you think and behave depends significantly on the books you pull out.

at that point you have to be a creature who can perform many different 'characters'. you might have memories of both, but your 25th-century-sona might be very different from your 41st-century-sona. you are sort of inescapably plural. shoggoth wearing a mask, etc. etc., you know where I'm going with this.

is this necessary? would it be possible to have a 'brain' that can consider vastly more information at once in parallel, like the planet-running Minds in Iain M Banks? or is there some kind of linear bottleneck, the putative 'main thread' which may or may not be identifiable with 'consciousness'? even without a bottleneck, it takes time for information to propagate. you could pile neurons onto a brain, letting its broad plasticity adapt them to whatever function it might need, but at some point it's more like a vast space where multiple 'wavelets' of collective thought-excitation are moving around and interacting with each other than a unified thing.

but perhaps that is no obstacle: perhaps a process in there could just duplicate instances of itself and have some mechanism to reconcile them periodically and pass information between these units, and the whole thing can be a nice little universe-contemplating superorganism. until some nodes start to defect. but oh dangit, we just invented multicellularity again. and GPUs. and... human society?

so perhaps that's the resolution to my little wish: this little 'node' right here may only be able to consider the parts of history that it's exposed to, but it's a component in a larger system. it can receive compressed representations of thoughts from other nodes, and send them in turn. we call that 'language'. that's what you're reading right now, hi!

well, that's nice and pretty and all, but it still leaves us with entropy and the arrow of time. maybe the superorganism will eventually see the whole future, but its older memories still decay, and I am not the superorganism.

in the absence of a total perspective vortex, then... without the means to know 'halloween'...

well, that leaves constructing fantasies of it, as an artistic gesture, a game to play in the present. it will absolutely certainly get everything wrong and one day feel as dated as Zager and Evans. it still calls to me, though - to fully dissolve what is familiar, and take no arbitrary assumption. who can say why.

[aholefilledwithtwigs]

Everyone jokes about CBT for having dueling acronym meanings but it has nothing on the horror of the number of machines that use Computer Numerical Control

[sybaritick]

of all the acronyms that have more than one common reading, I'm trying to imagine what two people with different readings make the worst relationship.

person who reads MLM as multi-level marketing and person who reads MLM as marxist-leninist-maoist might be #1, but I think we have competition from IRA (Irish) and IRA (retirement account). They definitely seem like a bad match. VOC (volatile organic compound) and VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie/the Dutch East India Company) also feel like they come from two inherently different people, though maybe they're both granola progressive types and so get along that way.

meanwhile, POS (point of sale) and POS (piece of shit) work perfectly well together. CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and CBT (cock and ball torture) are your average Tumblr couple. TFA (two-factor authentication) and TFA (The Force Awakens) are the Reddit version of that couple. I also definitely like PMC (private military contractor) / PMC (professional-managerial class) as a matching pair. CNC (consensual non-consent) and CNC (CNC machine, computer numerical control) are clearly a fun pair as well. most of them are good!

[foxiislvt]

I've seen it on many trans people's kinks list and I've got to ask, What is so hot about Computer Numerical Control?

I guess trans people just love (checks notes) a manufacturing technique that uses computers to control machine tools.

Yeah

[transfemme-shelterdog]

I'm a trans guy who's currently working in a trade school, specifically taking a digital printing technology program (so like silkscreening, pre-press, embroidery, lazer cutting, label making, etc.) and when I see CNC I just automatically think about CNC (Computer numerical control) machine. It's basically a giant machine to cut stuff like wood, aluminum, film, foam, stuff like that.

Fun fact: I actually took a course in CNC programming in high school.

Funny anecdote but imagine being in University in a degree where you have to take psych classes at the height of "CBT" memes. Our professor would always talk about "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" and my and my friends would have to not laugh because all we could think about was cock and ball torture.

[archoneddzs15]

Super Famicom - Shin Kidoh Senki Gundam Wing: Endless Duel

Title: Shin Kidoh Senki Gundam Wing: Endless Duel / 新機動戦記ガンダムW(ウイング): ENDLESS DUEL

Developer: Natsume

Publisher: Bandai

Release date: 29 March 1996

Catalogue Code: SHVC-AEDJ-JPN

Genre: 2D Fighting

Gundam Wing was the first Anime that I watched that was not kid-focused like Dragon Ball Z or Pokemon. When I saw it on TV, I was blown away by how amazing the robots were, how cool the art was, and how it blended war drama with awesome space combat. How cool would it be to play a game where these giant robots could battle each other?! Little did I know that in Japan, a Super Famicom game was released that allowed this very thing. It is a crying shame it never saw a Stateside release.... that is until this very game got an English fan translation. Nice!

The game does a poor job of explaining what the actual story is – mainly because it is in Japanese (which is a language that I do not speak), but it doesn’t really matter because giant awesome-looking mechs are fighting each other all over the place. This is a fighting game built around the design of Street Fighter 2 or maybe Super Street Fighter 2, perhaps? Players select their own giant robot to do battle with against one another. There are a total of 10 robots to do battle with, with each one having unique button combinations to do special moves. In addition, they also have different stats like speed, defense, power, and weapon strength. I played many of the characters and they all felt quite different with lots of cool moves for each.

In terms of controls, each mech has a strong and weak punch, and a strong and weak weapon attack. Each mech also has a counter of 300 power below its life bar which shows how much backup energy for attacks they have. Power attacks take between 100 and 200 power, and shooting a machine-gun-like attack takes it down one at a time. Without this power, you cannot do all the cool fancy destructive moves. It gained be regained though! If you block or use regular attacks, it will refill, and you can unleash some new devastating attacks. There is one last cool feature – you can jet around in your mech! While mechs are somewhat sluggish, if you hit two buttons at once (I think strong punch and strong weapon) plus a direction, you can jet in any direction. What’s even cooler is that do a second jet at the end of your first, so you can jet up, then towards your enemy, and do a dropkick on his head all in one attack. This ability really made me feel like I was fighting in a mech!

While there is the traditional arcade mode where you battle against the computer against all ten mechs, the main fun of this game really is the awesome multiplayer. There are no special options, but it is just a blast bashing each other into the ground! In terms of graphics, this is one of the most beautiful 2D games that I have ever seen. The animations are smooth and there is little to no slowdown! I don’t know how they did it, but they did! The special attacks and beam swords all look great too, and the set pieces for each level really help to see the scale of how large these machines actually are! In terms of music, this game also dominates. I can’t count how many times I looped the intro song when writing this review. Most if not all of the songs help produce a sci-fi war atmosphere that suits this style of game. The sound effects also make it even more satisfying to pummel your friends into the ground.

Next to Street Fighter Zero 2 and maybe the SFC version of Fatal Fury Special and World Heroes, this is my favorite fighting game on the SFC. It’s beautiful, fun, and has giant mechs that battle each other! With a bunch of pals over, this game is endlessly replayable. While the game was never released stateside, there are numerous game sites that produce reproductions of the game. 

[satancopilotsmytardis]

I'm taking a cnc (computer numerical control) machining class at college and I don't think I'm gonna get over the innuendo. I heard the phrase "balls in the cnc machine" today and thought waoow.... what a beautiful world. Sorry this ask is pretty pointless but I'm obsessed with that wolf/bunny cnc concept and the snake/bunny one

Lol, could I interest you in some CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Cock and Ball Torture) with your CNC class? But yay! I'm glad that you liked both of the prompts! I had so much fun writing both of those! I don't think I've shown how much I like nagas on this account, but they are one of my favorite flavors of monster, so getting to dip my toes in it for Shigadabi was a delight!

Thanks for commenting!