CNC vs TS, planer, joiner

[Jason Matisheck]

Could a CNC router take the place of a table saw, jointer and planer? To keep the price comparable we would have to be talking about a good European slider and a fairly large planer and jointer. Application would be in a hobby/semi-pro furniture shop. What are the major tradeoffs you would make? For example you would probably lose the ability to index cuts off of existing pieces like you do with a TS. On the other hand, you may know the dimensions of all your pieces fairly accurately. What would be faster, what slower? Can you hold a board to joint one face, or would a vacuum table force it flat? Can joinery be cut accurately?

Not anything I'm thinking of doing, just wondering...

[Ed Lang]

Jason,
I have a ShopBot Alpha96 CNC machine, 10" table saw, 8" jointer and 20" planer. I could use a wider jointer. I have used the CNC as a planer and it works good. I like the speed of the jointer, planer and table saw for routine cutting. I can rip faster on the table saw than the CNC by a large margin.

If I could make everything from sheet goods, then the CNC is all I would need. If I made everything from rough lumber, then I am right where I want to be as far as equipment goes.

Now the difference is I can start the CNC and walk away to do something else while it cuts. The table saw, jointer and planer are not quite that good about moving stock.

ed

[Leo Voisine]

CNC brings a whole new dimension to the shop.

I have a small machine with no tool changer. I need to change tools manually whenever there needs to be a tool change. That takes time - but I can still walk away from the machine.

Efficiency? Yes and No. Machines that are dedicated to a specific purpose are going to be better at what they do than a universal machine.

Now, you definately use a 1/8 end mill to do all the routing including facing the piece on the table - BUT - it would take forever. OR - you could setup the program so that the machine would stop so you could change tools. This requires that you put move labor into the job. OR you could buy a machine with an automatic tool changer. That can get expensive.

With all that said - I have done this. I have a small program to make a project. I still mill and plane the wood to 1/2 thick, but I have bypassed the Miter saw, Table Saw, router table. I will be doing more stuff like this in the future.