CNC-Model Making

[Jefta]

Hello everyone
I am opening this thread exclusively for CNC. Researching the pages of this forum, and others as well as on YouTube, related to the construction of ship models, I found a lot of information for 3d printing and for laser, but unfortunately very little for CNC.
I am a beginner and want to master the use of CNC for model making, and it seems to me that there are many people who find this topic interesting. Now we are in the year 2025 and a lot of new things are appearing. As I said, having researched this topic for some time now, I am more confused and undecided, and I hope to find some help here.
To begin with, I will ask a few questions and some guidelines that interest me. First of all:
-Which program is suitable for our hobby, without costing like a heart transplant  , is it:
- Fusion
- Vectric 2dcut or Vcarv
-Carveco
or someone else?
- How to use the drawing from my monograph and plans and make a piece on my CNC router (small 3018pro), ship decorations for example. On my home printer I can scan:
- BITMAP
- JPEG
-PNG
-TIFF
- MULTI-TIFF
- PDF
I saw on this forum that a workshop for Fusion in model making is offered, I sent a query both here on that topic and directly on the site where it is offered, but unfortunately without any response.
I'm on the fence about buying a Vectric Vcarv and it's not exactly cheap for a hobby but that's about the upper limit I'd be willing to pay. Because this is just my fun and enjoyment in making models, I have no intention of making a business out of this and making money.

Edited Sunday at 12:32 PM by Jefta

[thibaultron]

First, what do you want to do with the CNC? Are you making 3D parts, what materials,  metal and/or wood? What type of machine CNC Router or a full CNC mill. Do You want high precision parts? What size parts are you planning to cut. Personal or commercial production plans.

 

As far as software, I would recommend the Vcarve program (Pro if your machine will be bigger than 24" X 24") if you can design the parts on Sketchup, Fusion, or another 3D program. The other carving programs are subscription based, and not as powerful.

 

Do you have a machine or are you looking for recommendations?

[Cleat]

I bought a Sainsmart 3018 Prover a few years ago.  I bought it primarily for laser etching; I got a package that included a spindle plus some accessories.  For model shipbuilding, I used the spindle to cut a jig that helped me bend brass wire for stairway railings.  I used it to create stairway runners that I had broken.  I used it to cut walnut veneer to cover some plywood pieces for my current built.  I consider it a good learning tool and Sainsmart has very good support.  I learned enough that I decided to buy a bigger CNC router machine for my garage (I made a lake contour map in wood).

 

I’ve used a variety of free and inexpensive software.  When I bought the machine for my garage I bought VCarve which is worth the price; it has tools to design (you can import drawings), it has a variety of tools to create and troubleshoot toolpaths, and it creates G-code to operate a CNC machine (they support a variety of CNC manufacturers).  I’ve been writing myself a manual for CNC processes because I don’t use it often enough to remember everything.  It is helpful the learn what G codes are.  The CNC learning process is steep but VCarve helps reduce the learning process. 

[Jefta]

On 9. 3. 2025. at 16:02, thibaultron said:

Прво, шта желите да урадите са ЦНЦ-ом? Да ли правите 3Д делове, које материјале, метал и/или дрво? Која врста машине ЦНЦ рутер или пуна ЦНЦ млин. Да ли желите делови високе прецизности? Које величине делова планирате да смањите. Лични или комерцијални производни планови.

 

Што се тиче софтвера, препоручио бих Вцарве програм (Про ако ће ваша машина бити већа од 24" Кс 24") ако можете да дизајнирате делове на Скетцхуп, Фусион или другом 3Д програму. Остали програми за резбарење су засновани на претплати и нису тако моћни.

 

Да ли имате машину или тражите препоруке?

I want to do ship decorations and carvings, and of course other types of cutting. I want as much precision as possible, and as for the materials, I use Swiss rosewood and ebony and brass for the metal parts. The scale is 1:36 or 1:48 and it is exclusively for my personal use and my personal pleasure. I have absolutely no commercial plans. My machine is a CNC router 3018pro, and I think it is enough for a beginner. I have to admit that it is the only machine in my life that I do not know how to I use .
I don't know how to design parts, that's why I turned here because I would start learning a program from the very beginning, and wandering from program to program I don't think is a good idea. Researching on the internet, I liked Vcarv the most, but I don't know if it is a good hobby for us and if only that one program is enough.
I want to turn the drawing from my plans and monographs into a finished piece. For that I need advice and guidance from people who are more experienced in this field.

[Jefta]

21 hours ago, Cleat said:

I bought a Sainsmart 3018 Prover a few years ago.  I bought it primarily for laser etching; I got a package that included a spindle plus some accessories.  For model shipbuilding, I used the spindle to cut a jig that helped me bend brass wire for stairway railings.  I used it to create stairway runners that I had broken.  I used it to cut walnut veneer to cover some plywood pieces for my current built.  I consider it a good learning tool and Sainsmart has very good support.  I learned enough that I decided to buy a bigger CNC router machine for my garage (I made a lake contour map in wood).

 

I’ve used a variety of free and inexpensive software.  When I bought the machine for my garage I bought VCarve which is worth the price; it has tools to design (you can import drawings), it has a variety of tools to create and troubleshoot toolpaths, and it creates G-code to operate a CNC machine (they support a variety of CNC manufacturers).  I’ve been writing myself a manual for CNC processes because I don’t use it often enough to remember everything.  It is helpful the learn what G codes are.  The CNC learning process is steep but VCarve helps reduce the learning process. 

 

I agree that it can be a very useful tool. Would you share how you imported the drawings and how you used them further?

[Gregory]

On 3/9/2025 at 7:19 PM, Cleat said:

When I bought the machine for my garage I bought VCarve which is worth the price

Did you by chance check out " Mesh Cam ".   Your experience with VCarve has me leaning in that direction, but Mesh Cam looks pretty robust also.

I like this info from their web site:

 

Quote

 

Sometimes you need a part that cannot be designed with a traditional CAD program.

Sometimes you don’t even have a CAD program.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry. You can open any image file (JPG, BMP, or PNG) in MeshCAM and the image will be converted to a 3D surface that can be machined directly.

Users have come up with incredible uses for this feature to make parts that would be almost impossible with a traditional CAD program.

 

 

[Cleat]

17 hours ago, Jefta said:

Would you share how you imported the drawings and how you used them further?

I import .DWG and .SVG files.  I bought Qcad ($40) to learn CAD software, I now use it for designing my wood working projects.  I also used it to design a jig to help bend wire to bend several stair railings, the jig was a simple shape cut into a piece of wood where I could place the brass wire to shape the bends..  I also use a vector based program like Inkscape which produces .SVG files.  Inkscape is free and easier to use than CAD software but CAD software is more accurate. 

[Cleat]

14 hours ago, Gregory said:

Did you by chance check out " Mesh Cam ".   Your experience with VCarve has me leaning in that direction, but Mesh Cam looks pretty robust also.

I like this info from their web site:

I don't recall all the programs I checked out; some have subscriptions, some don't, and some are very expensive. Mesh Cam looks similar to VCarve, I think VCarve might have more features.  I noticed VCarve is favored with many CNC users.  You buy VCarve once and can use it without a subscription.  You have the option to buy a low cost fee for a year of free updates.  One feature you really need is a CAM module/program (CAM converts a drawing into G-code); VCarve does that and it looks like Mesh Cam does it too.  

 

Before I bought VCarve I used QCad ($40) and bought their CAM software ($70) but you need to know how g-codes work to troubleshoot problems (it outputs generic code).  VCarve can output g-code for a variety of CNC machines and it looks like Mech Cam does that too. 

Edited 23 hours ago by Cleat

[Jefta]

4 hours ago, Cleat said:

Не сећам се свих програма које сам проверио; неки имају претплате, неки немају, а неки су веома скупи. Месх Цам изгледа слично ВЦарве-у, мислим да ВЦарве можда има више карактеристика.  Приметио сам да је ВЦарве омиљен код многих ЦНЦ корисника.  Једном купујете ВЦарве и можете га користити без претплате.  Имате могућност да купите ниску цену за годину дана бесплатних ажурирања.  Једна карактеристика која вам је заиста потребна је ЦАМ модул/програм (ЦАМ претвара цртеж у Г-код); ВЦарве то ради и изгледа да и Месх Цам то ради.  

 

Пре него што сам купио ВЦарве, користио сам КЦад ($40) и купио њихов ЦАМ софтвер ($70), али морате знати како г-кодови раде на решавању проблема (излаже генерички код).  ВЦарве може да произведе г-код за различите ЦНЦ машине и изгледа да Мецх Цам то такође ради. 

From your experience, is only Vcarv enough, costing 400 euros, and I wonder if any other software is needed in addition to it. My problem is still that I don't know how to convert a paper drawing into a suitable format useful for CNC.

[Gregory]

@Cleat

Would you say Vcarve does a good job of converting a 2D image into a3D surface for carving?