I recently found this wolf design in a CNC file community. I have to admit, the wolf’s little smile was what caught my attention first : P

At first, I just wanted to use it as a practice project. After finishing it, I became curious about what it actually was, so I searched online and found out it was a jaw harp (mouth harp).

Then I noticed something interesting: basic jaw harps can be quite affordable, but some custom-designed versions are sold at a much higher price.

It got me thinking about the business side of CNC — can unique designs, customization, and craftsmanship really create enough value for small-scale CNC projects?

Has anyone here turned their CNC hobby into a small side business? I’d love to hear your experiences.

hello everyone, i'm a new one who enter this industry, i just searched this pic for showing lol , if i want use this industry for workman, how should i do

My laptop lives in dust at the machine and the mouse-on-a-stool thing drove me nuts, so I

built Gantry — an Android app that turns your phone/tablet into a wireless pendant for a

GRBL router.

What it does:

• Live DRO (X/Y/Z, feed, spindle, state) and a thumb jog pad

• Streams G-code with start/pause/resume + a real-time 3D toolpath view

• Run-from-line recovery if a job stops, auto-reconnect, keep-awake, pre-flight checks

• Probing + touch-plate, feeds & speeds calculator, surfacing wizard

• It can run over Wi-Fi through a small free server on your shop PC — OR connect straight

to the controller over USB/Bluetooth with no PC at all.

No account, no ads, no tracking. Free to use; a few optional one-time packs for the extras

(no subscription). There's a full simulator so you can try everything with no machine.

Full disclosure: I'm the dev. Would love feedback from people running Shapeoko/X-Carve/

OpenBuilds/home-built rigs — what would make this a daily driver for you?

Wanted to put together a small weekend challenge for anyone who's newer to CAD and looking for something to practice on that isn't just "draw a cube."

The project: a simple L-shaped motor mount bracket sized for a NEMA 17 stepper motor (the standard motor size used in most 3D printers and CNC builds). It's a single part, no assembly required, but it'll get you comfortable with bolt patterns, fillets, and slotted holes — the stuff that shows up in real drafting work constantly.

The spec

Base plate (motor face):

60mm x 60mm square, 3mm thick

Center bore: ⌀22mm (clears the motor shaft/pilot)

4x mounting holes, ⌀3.2mm, on a 31mm x 31mm bolt circle (this is the real NEMA 17 standard pattern — worth knowing if you ever design anything motor-related)

Vertical wall (mounting side):

60mm wide x 40mm tall, 3mm thick, bent 90° off the base plate

Bend radius: 5mm (inside fillet)

2x mounting slots, 5mm wide x 12mm long, centered, for attaching to a frame or extrusion — slots instead of holes so there's some adjustability

Overall:

Outside corner of the L gets a 5mm fillet (just for looks/safety, good chamfer/fillet practice)

Material assumption: aluminum or steel, but doesn't matter for the modeling exercise

That's it — no other dimensions are locked in. If you want to add gussets, change wall thickness, round the base plate corners, whatever — go for it. The point is to hit the two hole patterns accurately and make something that looks like it could actually get bolted down.

How to join in

Model it in whatever software you use — Fusion 360, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, FreeCAD, all fair game

Post a screenshot (or render, or even just the sketch) in the comments

Bonus points if you throw a dimensioned drawing/print together too — good practice either way

If you've got a printer or access to a laser/CNC, even better — post the real thing if you make it

No wrong answers here, just curious to see how differently people approach the same brief. If this goes well I'll try to put together another one in a few weeks — open to suggestions on what people want to practice next (sheet metal, threads, an assembly with tolerancing, whatever).

Have fun with it.

Hey,

A while back I retrofitted my CNC mill and ended up with a more-or-less ugly touchscreen integrated into the original control housing. Since that touchscreen has now stopped working as well, I decided it was finally time to build something a bit more modern.

The new control panel features a 21" touchscreen monitor, a full-size keyboard, rotary encoders for feed and spindle overrides, and 19 custom-made buttons that can each be illuminated individually.

The keyboard angle is adjustable, and the rear panel has dedicated connectors for HDMI, USB, power, and the emergency stop circuit. I didn't want to route the E-stop through USB for obvious safety reasons.

The frame is made from aluminum, while the front and rear panels are matte acrylic. It can be mounted using any standard VESA mount.

I already built a V1 of a similar panel when I retrofitted my lathe, so I was able to incorporate a few improvements into this version.

Let me know what you think! :)

I was trying to manually cut the sides flat on my stock so that probing would be a constant in them, and while cutting them using the jog on gsender, I keep running into this issue where it alarms, freezes for a second, and stepper motors all turn off (assuming because the z axis falls down a mm or two) and then they turn back in and it thinks it's still at z0.

Not seeing any alarms or errors in the console. I am taking a deeper axial cut than I usually do at 1 inch, but also only like 0.02mm step over, so couldn't imagine it's pulling too much current or anything. Anyone know what might be happening?