With the increasing demand of manufacturing industry, CNC routers are required not only in furniture manufacturing, woodworking, and label making, but also in customized processing industry. The advantages of CNC routers are not only realized in achieving production automation, but also reflected in helping enterprises to optimize the production process and get better business of growth. In this blog, we go over the top benefits of CNC router and how you can utilize these advantages to the fullest.
1. High Production Efficiency
In many furniture, cabinet, and wood product-making industries, increased production efficiency is a significant reason to invest in CNC routers. Instead of traditional mechanical machining ways, which are dependent on manual operations to a large extent, CNC routers can convert some of the machining procedures to automated production procedures, minimize idle time, and aid enterprises in finishing more jobs in the same production period.
The operator needs to finish measuring, marking, and locating according to the drawing and the following cutting, drilling, and slotting work in traditional machine processing. For a repeatedly manufactured product, these preparation and processing steps have to be redone.
CNC routers benefits is to group several steps together into one seamless operation. CNC routers can directly transform the design files into executable machining programs for cutting, drilling, slotting, and engraving automatically along the defined path. For products with well-defined measurements and processing requirements, the same processing instruction can be applied to each batch without altering the processing flow for each batch, resulting in shorter down time in updating the processing flow.
Besides, CNC routers can combine multiple process steps into one process, which reduces time for moving the workpiece between different machines and re-positioning of the workpiece. With the help of automated processing, enterprises can build a more efficient production mode, increase equipment utilization, and better meet the needs of batch-type and customized processing production as compared with traditional processing methods.
Hence, the development priority of the CNC router to enhance production efficiency is not only to raise the one-time cutting speed, but to shorten non- cutting time in the production flow and maximize the production capacity in unit time by using the digital-driven schemes, automation, process integration, and so on.
2. Higher Machining Accuracy and Consistency
Consistency of finished products is also a benefit of CNC router. Good stability and uniform quality of processing is just as important as production efficiency. Especially for those companies that process furniture panels, cabinet doors, and door panels, the smallest dimensional deviations will affect part matching, product assembly, and final visual presentation.
During batch processing, if the workpieces have to be manually measured and positioned, such small deviations caused by operation will bring at least two different pieces deviating in size or in location. The benefit of a CNC router is that can reduce workpiece machining error efficiently. Taking into account the stable condition of machine, the cutting tools, and the processing spects, the programmed processing technique of CNC machine can minimize human factor and keep the size and quality of batch workpiece more stable and uniform under these circumstances.
Due to the characteristics and specifications of the CNC machine, the error of general woodworking CNC machine would be ± 0.1 mm to ± 0.3 mm, and some high precision CNC router can be controlled to the error of around ± 0.05 mm.
It is worth noting that, in our experience, the real achievable accuracy of CNC routers is not only a question of the machines itself. The machine type, transmission mechanism, spindle performance, tool condition, machining parameters, and daily care all have influence in the final machining results. So when you are purchasing a CNC router, it is necessary to select suitable equipment configuration depending on your own material, the product type and accuracy needed.
3. High Return on Investment
Instead of just considering the purchase price of CNC machines, enterprises should attach more importance to the value that CNC routers bring in the long-term using process. From the business perspective, CNC routers benefits are not just manifested in high machining efficiency and stability, but also in the production capacity transformation to the long-term profits.
3.1 Reduce Labor Costs
The benefit of CNC routers is that they allow manufacturers to save labor cost on each product, enhancing the return of machinery investment; they also help the manufacturer make better use of raw materials and finish more products at once at the same production cost through the production of scale.
CNC routers can be programmed to carry out hundreds of identical machining operations, which means operators do not have to be constantly involved in the machining of each individual workpiece. This is very necessary for those whose production is getting to be scaled. If the product orders are growing, the traditional production approach of mechanical needs to manual work very many pieces while the automation of CNC machine can lessen the dependences on manual work. Consequently, employees can focus on high-value work such as operating machinery, quality assurance, and production management.
3.2 Reduce Material Waste
The material utilization rate is also the main influence factor of the profit for manufacturing industries. You have to figure not only what your labor costs are, but also how much of the processing materials you buy actually become products. For example, assume that an MDF board costs $40, if $30 of the material is converted into a product, then the utilization rate is quite high; If $20 worth of materials are converted into products with large amount of leftover scraps and waste, then the utilization rate is low.
One of the CNC router benefits is that the whole process can be planned out so materials can be laid out and machining paths planned in the CAD/CAM software. The technician could make the cutting positions more reasonably according to the sizes of the different pieces so as to achieve the higher utilization rate of the board. For enterprises like furniture and cabinets which need a mass of processed panels, long-term mass production could dramatically reduce material loss and the whole production cost even a little of scraps is diminished per panel.
3.3 Long-Term Return on Investment
Another CNC router benefit is being able to achieve a return on investment through nonstop production. There is an investment in purchasing a CNC machine, but once the equipment is put to use , it can generate a continuous stream of economic benefits by saving some labor costs, reducing material waste, shortening processing time and improving production efficiency.
For instance, the investment of a furniture factory to buy a CNC machine is around $10000. Based on our previous customer reviews, when the equipment is put into production, it reduces workforce overhead over 1000 per month for an enterprise, minimizing waste of materials, and the production efficiency is enhanced. The initial cost of purchasing the machine is only 10 months to recoup. and if, at the same time, the equipment can further enhance the furniture factory’s production capacity, the more orders the furniture factory can gain, and the profits of more orders will bring the time for getting the investment return to become even shorter.
If CNC routers can enable furniture factories to lower each product’s production cost in the long run and make more products, you’re not just buying a piece of equipment — you’re buying a production tool that can keep generating profits.
4. Versatility and Flexibility
CNC router benefits are also in terms of their multi-function and flexible features. To a lot of enterprises who are about to make investment in CNC router, buying a machine not just means they would like to improve on the existing production efficiency and reduce labor cost, but also means that they are going to expand their product categories to adapt to the business changes in the future and take on more orders so as to develop their business.
CNC routers are able to work with different materials such as lumber, composites, and plastics, and can execute cutting tasks depending on the material. Common materials processed are some woods including MDF, plywood, acrylic, PVC, Foam board, etc.
For woodwork companies, the same CNC router can be used to cut cabinet door panels, furniture parts and desktop boards, as is it can be used for drilling, slotting, hollowing out, carving, even irregular cutting, which greatly reduce the need of the enterprises to buy several machines to handle different processing tasks.
From our customers’ experience, some buyers just purchase a CNC router machine at the very beginning for processing sheet cutting or furniture making, but when they all put the machine into work, they will find that it is able to support more products and orders. For instance, woodworking plants can produce customized furniture and decorative carving in addition to simple sheet metal processing. Advertising production companies can manufacture ordinary billboards as well as acrylic signs and 3D characters. Handicraft or decoration manufacturers can also utilize CNC routers for detailed carving, hollowing out and mass production.
For an organization that specializes in product type that is ever changing, takes many customised orders, that are planning to branch out in business, the ability to deal with multiple materials, processes, products and configurations will assist in avoiding the reliance on one type of product or order, the same technique of equipping can be carried over to be utilized in them different stages, business-wise. It can also further enhance the long term utilization rate and value of the equipment investment.
5. Benefits of CNC Routers for Different Businesses
CNC Routers offer slightly different benefits for different enterprises. CNC machines can deal with large orders in the context of furniture factories and set standard production processes, this is particularly important for larger factories. For the advertising sign company, reading orders may be more beneficial for fast turnaround of different designs and low volume customization prints.
5.1 Furniture Manufacturing
CNC router benefits for furniture production companies is not only in cutting the sheet material, but more importantly, it makes factories to establish a more stable digital processing flow. Cabinet doors, door skins, & customized furniture components can are brought to you by digital files.
In particular, for enterprises which manufacture mass-produced furniture and customized furniture at the same time, the same machine needs to frequently work on different sizes and designs of workpieces, and CNC routers can directly call the corresponding processing files.
To some extent, based on our real users’ experience, if in your furniture production there will be more than one process involved, then the merit of CNC routers with automatic tool changing function will be even more significant. During the machining process ends with the different types of cutting tools being automatically changed the machining process With that frequent downtime and manual tool changes can be minimized.
5.2 Cabinet Manufacturing
The key to making cabinets is not only to process a single piece of board for once, but to realize the accurate joint of a mass of board at the end. For a complete cabinet, for example, there will be side panels, top panels, bottom panels and so on, that required to be joined together. When the processing of each board has a certain error, it will cause the size of the home cabinet be different, and worse, the cabinet door can not be installed in the final assembly.
CNC router benefits for cabinet manufacturing companies are that several boards within the same cabinet can be cut as per relevant files, for any differences and variations among the different parts of a cabinet are minimal.
For instance, you can save the parameters for tool, machining program and machining path you use for first time production of certain cabinet, which are valid ones in your opinion, and reuse them for second or subsequent production of the same or similar cabinet. This does not only helps you to avoid wasting time doing preparation work before you commence with processing, but it can also ensure the precision of the product.
5.3 Signage and Advertising
Many advertising companies don’t have large daily productions of the same product but they frequently receive orders that call for small quantities, multiple designs and different materials. One day a firm might need to process acrylic letters, the next it could be PVC advertising boards, then again wood signs or decorative panels.
In this type of business model, CNC router benefits lie not just in processing multiple materials, but also in quick designs modification. When product changes are taking place, machinists are typically able to regenerate or modify the machining programs using updated CAD/CAM design files on the workstations. And substitute the relevant tools and feeds according to the workpiece material and machining requirements
To illustrate, the very same CNC router that has just completed processing of a batch of acrylic characters can be used for the machining of PVC advertising boards and wood signs. For advertising companies specializing in customized orders, this flexibility also means they can do more orders with the same machine. Particularly when clients proactively customize products in different sizes, shapes and quantities of requirements, digital processing flow could be a better avenue in turning new orders from design drafts into physical products, as it would contribute on alleviating the diversified order strain on companies.
6. How to Maximize the Benefits Of CNC Router
What is needed to make the best CNC router benefit depends on the particular production, as to if the equipment is appropriate for the production. The demands on CNC routers are quite different, depending on the materials, quantities and the production process of each company. A CNC router that is ideal for large scale furniture manufacturers is not always ideal for small custom wood shops.
6.1 Choose the Right Machine Configuration for Different Materials
In order to fully benefit from CNC router advantages, the right and full configuration of the hardware and software needs to be selected based on the processing material features, not only on the basis of the price or one single parameter.
Wood
The rigidity of the machine, CNC router spindle, and tool selection is more important in wood processing than a mere configuration upgrade of the CNC machine itself.
Solid wood and other types of wood are among the most widely used materials for CNC routers, then MDF, plywood, and particle board. Generally, for the manufacture of furniture and cabinetry when cutting, slotting and drilling boards is sufficient a 3 Axis CNC Router can be selected, with a high-speed spindle for wood processing, tungsten carbide tooling and vacuum suction tables.
If the work mostly is in thick solid wood or hardwood, consider greater importance to machine bed and spindle power rigidity since greater cutting depths involve higher loads. For furniture manufacturers who need to perform cutting, drilling and slotting procedures on a regular basis, the ATC CNC Router can also be selected to minimize human involvement in the transition from process to process through automatic tool changing, provide safer and more efficient production.
Advertising Materials
In the advertising signage industry, to take full advantage of CNC routers, correct tool designation and cutting parameter setting is even more necessary.
For some everyday items such as acrylic letters and PVC signage in advertising sign companies, a configuration of 3 Axis CNC Router+high-speed spindle+single-blade or double-edged hard alloy cutting tools+vacuum suction table can handle most of the processing requirements. Two edges cutting tools have large chip space to help decrease the plastics debris accumulated in the working area. The vacuum table can better hold on these relatively light materials.
Meanwhile, higher spindle power is not necessarily better for CNC machines for cutting advertising materials. When speed, feed rate and tool selection are not coordinated, edge melting, tool sticking and burrs may occur.
Stone
Marble and granite, and many other stones, place greater demands on the construction and cooling system of a CNC router. Usually, a specialized Stone CNC Router with a high-rigidity body, sink, water-cooled spindle, stone specific diamond cutting tools is a must to better leverage the advantages of the CNC router.
The heat from stone cutting is relatively high, and the water tank can continuously provide cooling water during operation. The water-cooled spindle is conducive to maintaining the thermal stability of the spindle, and the continuous water flow in the working area directly cools the tool, which minimizes the spreading of the stone powders.
At the same time, the stone’s high hardness and cutting resistance also require the machine to have enough structural rigidity in structure, and common woodwork machinery is not suitable for processing stone for a long time, so corresponding diamond tools must be utilized.
In stone work, the water tank, water-cooled spindle, and solid machine frame are not extra fittings, but rather crucial elements that will guarantee that the machine will go on to complete the processing for quite some time.
6.2 Choose the Right Number of Axes for Your Machining Needs
What’s more, in order to fully utilize the CNC router benefits, the machine’s number of motion axes should be consistent with the product’s structure and processing technology. Our experience has shown that higher number of axes does not directly correlate with more advantages that a CNC router can provide. You will have to provide your machine with the motion needed to do actual processing.
Rotary Axis CNC Router can be a good option for making table legs, chair legs, wooden columns, stair handrails and other round or rotating workpieces. The rotating axis can make the workpiece rotate about its axis; the tool can machine the workpiece in different directions, continuously without stop to turn the work piece by operators.
If the product has complicated surface, molds, inclines in multi-directions, or multiple 3D structures, the selection of 4-axis CNC routers or 5-axis CNC routers needs to be considered. The multi-axis CNC Router features an additional rotating axis for the tool to approach the workpiece in various angles, this reduce the frequency of re-clamping and increases the flexibility in machining complex structures.
When processing such products with common 3 axis machines, the direction of the cutting tool is fixed, and some sides or complex surfaces can not be machined directly. They often have to flip and re-clamp the workpiece multiple times. This not only causes an increase in the processing procedures, but the chance of making errors induced by repositioning is also higher.
- 3 Axis CNC router: working for flat workpieces;
- 4 Axis/5 Axis CNC router: Applicable for multi-directional processing of complex surfaces, moulds, and inclined surfaces;
- Rotary Axis CNC Router: It can be used for cylindrical workpieces, spiral stair handrails, and rolling.
6.3 Choose the Right Working Area and Machine Size
In order to take full advantage of CNC router benefits, you need to take into account the work area size and the dimensions of the machine and the shop space. The working range must be able to accommodate the size of the most frequently processed workpieces in the enterprise. The machine itself must also allow enough space for loading and unloading, running, and daily maintenance.
As an illustration, consider a furniture manufacturing plant that utilizes panels measuring 1220 × 2440 mm (4 × 8 ft) as its standard; a CNC router with a working table of around 1300 × 2500 mm is applicable to perform the main processing of the whole panel in one clamping.
But we can’t just consider the size of the workbench. Such as the CNC router with a work area of 1300 × 2500 mm has an actual footprint vastly larger than this figure. You’ll also need to include the space for racks, control cabinets, loading and unloading, and maintenance. If the workshop is small, selecting larger format machines blindly might influence the loading and unloading of boards.
Clarification of the size of the workpiece, working space, size of the machine and the size of the workshop should be confirmed simultaneously before purchasing. The CNC machines chosen in this way can not only satisfy the daily processing requirements, but also take into consideration the convenience of loading, unloading and maintenance. It can really enable the equipment to maximize CNC router benefits in actual production.
7. Common Questions About CNC Router
7.1 Are the Benefits of CNC Routers Still Significant for Small-Batch Production?
Yes, there are still considerable advantages of CNC router in small-batch production. Traditional processing methods require making dedicated templates for products, and CNC Router does not. It only needs to change or call the corresponding processing program when different product. So, although the number of products per batch is not large, it can still reduce the time for model changing and process development.
You should also take into account the cost of buying and utilizing the machinery if you perform simple processing in tiny quantities only once in a while. You can select a CNC Router system to suit the real size of orders, which is far more economical than buying a big/high spec system.
7.2 Is it Difficult to Operate a CNC Router?
No, operators of CNC router do not need to have very complicated machining skills, but they must be trained in using it. The basic process is clamping the workpiece, installing the tool, importing the machining program, setting the origin and checking the processing parameters.
For enterprises who have never used CNC router before, the recommended choice is a manufacturer who would offer suggestion on the purchase of the equipment, the installation of the equipment, the training for operation and the technical supports after sale service. This will shorten the learning cycle for the employees and minimize the damage and injury to tools or workpiece due to hiatus operation.
7.3 Is a CNC Router Suitable for Continuous Operation?
Here are three things to look at to decide if a CNC router is a long-term continuous-production machine:
- Whether the way of the processing is reasonable: Don’t run the machine in an extremely cutting state for a long time when continuously producing.
- Is it easy to manage with continuous production: ATC, vacuum table, dust collecting system, and so on configurations can minimize the hand working, and minimize downtime.
- Regular maintenance: You need to clean or service your machine after it has been working for a long time. Alpha CNC has assembled a review list for the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly maintenance on CNC routers from what has worked from previous customer feedback and experiences. If you like follow the CNC router maintenance checklist to keep up with the machine.
7.4 Why do CNC Router Prices Vary so Much?
Differences in configuration and processing capabilities of the machines are the main reasons of CNC router price difference. Such as using a CNC router, A basic 3-axis can get you through cutting, carving and routing standard materials like MDF, plywood, PVC, and acrylic. Equipment with ATC automatic tool changing, vacuum suction table, rotating axis or other higher level function/spindle can minimize manual tool changing, process more complex workpieces or satisfy higher intensity of continuous production, which leads to higher costs.
7.5 What Should I do if a CNC Router Malfunctions?
When the CNC router is abnormal, you should stop machining and make sure that the machine is in a safe condition. Do not produce with the equipment in abnormal operation. Simple checks can be made according to the nature of the failure. For example, tool wear, fixation of workpiece, machinery transmission when the machining dimension is deviated.
Alpha CNC also created a dedicated CNC router troubleshooting guide for those of you who are having typical CNC router issues with your CNC machines like decreasing machining accuracy, spindle problems, odd noise, tool breakage, and decreased suction effectiveness, to help you out better.
Choosing the Right CNC Router Supplier for Your Business
As a manufacturer of CNC routers in China, Alpha CNC has been committed to providing high-quality CNC routers for furniture making, cabinet manufacturing, woodwork production, and advertising signage industries. Based on decades of experience, we will help you select the right equipment configuration that truly fits your production needs and assist your enterprise in improving efficiency and become long term development.
If you want to improve your existing production process by means of CNC routers after knowing the advantages or if you’re not sure what the correct machine configuration is, contact the Alpha CNC team. We may be able to offer some expert advice that may help you arrive at a better CNC Router solution.
