CNC Router Essentials: The Basics for Mastering the Most Innovative Tool in Your Workshop

CNC Router Essentials will have woodworkers operating their CNC machines with skill and confidence.

CNC machines are now easier to use, less expensive to purchase, and will greatly increase woodworking productivity in the shop. So, if you’re looking to buy one—or you already have but wish the user manual actually made sense—then CNC Essentials is for you. Veteran woodworkers Randy Johnson, CNC teacher and previous Editor in Chief of American Woodworker walks you effortlessly through each step in learning to use this game-changing woodworking machine. Project design essentials, toolpath basics, machine setup, bit selection, and more are all explained in an approachable and easy-to-understand format that will have any woodworker maximizing the full capacity of their CNC machine. Helpful practice projects in 2-D and 3-D will ensure that you’ve grasped the basics of this versatile tool, while a gallery will inspire you to create your own imaginative designs.

Randy Johnson started woodworking in his dad's shop, along with metalworking, machine tinkering and all those things kids did before computers. His mother, a lifelong teacher, gave him a deep appreciation for learning and the arts. Those experiences put Randy on a lifelong journey that has crisscrossed between the practical and the creative. Along the way, he has managed large and small shops, served as Editor-in-Chief at American Woodworker magazine and even taught woodworking in the U.S. Virgin Islands. For the past several years he's been exploring CNC router technology and ways to apply it to his woodworking. Randy currently lives with his wife in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he enjoys catamaran sailing in the summer, cross-country skiing in the winter and woodworking all year around.