Is there sites that sell vector files specifically for woodworking?

[Alex Zeller]

One of the projects I wanted a CNC router for is to make a rocking chair. So now I'm looking around for a 3d file for a chair seat. I'm sure I can make the outside edge but the 3d part in the center would take some learning. So I started looking around to see if I could find a site that sells files specific to woodworking. Finding flowers and birds seems real easy. I have found lots of guitar shapes. But I've only found one person on etsy. I would think that there would be a market for such things.

[Kevin Jenness]

I think Russell Crawford sells plans for a rocking chair. If not he would probably advise you on developing your own. You should be able to contact him through the Vectric forum.

[Jim Becker]

For a client that I cut chair seats, we had to have a hand-built seat 3D scanned....every chair design is a little different, too.

[Mark Bolton]

There are a few sites out there with a simple google search for scooped chair seat stl that have cut ready stl files but your likely not going to find some super organic maloof style seat file for free anywhere. A small bit of time in any 3D software that will allow you to export stl's will get you very close to a hogged out seat blank. Virtually no one that I can think of is going to allow a fully CNC cut blank on a chair that is suppose to command top dollar. You would use the CNC to hog the bulk of the seat leaving just the final shaping to put some of the artist back in the seat. If its a CNC seat from start to finish, even scanned, its not going to be, or command, the same respect (price) as a hand crafted seat.

[Jim Becker]

I will agree with Mark...the CNC is a great tool for handling the drudgery, but it's not going to produce the finished seat most folks would want. The person I cut seats for has me do it to save time over hogging out by hand. Every one is then hand-tooled to the finished project. They look identical to those he used to make all by hand, but his time to produce the chairs is cut by a considerable amount. We had one of the manually produced seats 3D scanned to create the initial 3D file and I used that to create the. As it turned out, the same "butt design" worked for a different chair, too, so I was able to take that contour and create a new set of files for the alternative. (these are actually two-sided designs, too, with cutting on top and bottom)

[Alex Zeller]

The seat was just one example. Making 2 dimensional objects is pretty easy but beyond that there's a wall you have to climb to learn how to make 3d objects. The chair seat is an easy one to picture that's why I used it. I've seen jigs so you can hog out the material on a table saw but they look machine made to me. I'm very limited on my knowledge but I'm think that a CNC with the right bit could make a very nice seat but the time it would take seems like it would be too much trouble. Removing 90%+ of the wood accurately would be a huge time saver. It also seems like it would be useful to scale up and down depending on who the seat is for. I just thought there would be a place that would have files for sale by hobbyists who did the hard part of making them for something they built and wanted to make a few bucks.

[Jim Becker]

I honestly haven't run into a site like that Alex, and agree it would be a nice resource for many folks. But I'll also reiterate something that a man I know told me...he has produced guitar files for a long time. They are pretty nice and he was nice enough to include sample tool paths with the files so folks could save time and learn something. But no matter how many disclaimers there were on the sales site, and popping up when the file was opened, and in the release notes for the files(s)...he kept getting buyers throwing abuse back because "the files didn't work" and demanding refunds. They just couldn't accept that every CNC machine is a little different and any file acquired from somewhere else has to be tweaked to suit. His files were actually perfectly fine and exactly what they were represented as. But still, it was discouraging and he pulled things down multiple times. I could be wrong, but I don't think he's posting them publicly any more. The moral of the story here is that buyer expectations throw a big barrier up to many people who would like to share and make a few shekels as you note. Buyers expect a lot of support beyond what's reasonable. That discourages folks from offering stuff.

[Alex Zeller]

From what I'm learning it seems like there's a lot of people who have, or are getting into CNC woodworking who are not computer or electronics savvy. Everyone has to learn and the best way is to jump in and swim (as long as you don't sink to the bottom). This creates a number of "it didn't work" so it must be someone else's fault. For example the file format was wrong or they didn't generate the correct G-code needed for their machine. So I can see you point Jim.

I just can't see justifying the cost of Aspire for what I'm going to do and I don't believe in buying what I think is illegal software (the older digital download) versions is right. So I'm going to force myself to learn Fusion. They do seem to have a large community so getting help is possible. The last time I used anything Autocad was designing circuit boards in college. Back then you installed it from a dozen or so floppies. So it's like starting from new. But I think I can get there.

I was planning on getting V-Carve Pro (since I wanted to limit the number of jobs that I needed to tile) but will hold off for a little while. I was playing with their demo versions but I'm not sure if I want to try and learn two very different programs at the same time.

[Mark Bolton]

You dont even need Aspire. Even basic titles like MS 3D builder can get you a hogged out seat (or better) if you take some time. Not saying this is you, but the hard part is people who spend time in a shop making things seem to see computer time as less-than-fruitful which I would agree if your profitable or just enjoy making a few chairs here and there or are willing just just enjoy the process and take the loss. But if your someone who even does a little bit of tallying of time, effort, hours, cleanup, the CNC as you state makes miles of sense whether it gets yo dead finished or just close. Regardless its working while your cleaning up the next seat, chips land in a bin, etc... But getting your head around spending a week in front of the computer learning and working it out, as compared to beating your body and lungs to death for several days in the shop is a hard concept to get your head around.

My FIL's head will explode if you cant draw a cabinet in 30 seconds because he thinks he can run into the shop with a table saw, a drill bit, and a machine gun, and make it faster. In the end I spend 30 minutes drawing, it comes off the machine like a nasa part, goes together dead square perfect, and he's standing there with 14 miscut sheet, bad parts everywhere, and heading out to the lumberyard for a few more sheets because he's finally got it figured out...

When you jump into the CNC rabbit hole, unless your just going to work with cookie cutter off the shelf, theres no option. You gotta learn several different software options. It just is what it is.

[Jim Becker]

When you jump into the CNC rabbit hole, unless your just going to work with cookie cutter off the shelf, theres no option. You gotta learn several different software options. It just is what it is.

I think that this is (currently) and ultimate truth for many folks. While I've been able to do everything I want and need within the Vectric software (Aspire, although I started out with VCarvePro) there conceivably will be something in my future projects that may be better served, from a drawing/CAD standpoint at least, by another application. It could be Rhinoceros; it could be Fusion, although I doubt it from having played a little, or it could be something else or even an application that hasn't appeared yet.

BTW, good point you made...VCP and other Vectric applications can use and cut 3D stuff no problem with only the limitation of one third party import per file. They just cannot create them. There are many times when the molding tool path can do stuff faster and easier than creating and cutting a 3D model, too. Lots of options!