A business with a single wood CNC: what you can produce with one machine.
The lowest entry threshold into manufacturing in the whole series: a CNC router, a workbench and an extraction unit. The guide covers the six operations that come off the same head, the five configuration decisions, how to price correctly in machine hours and, more importantly, the three completely different revenue models you can build on exactly the same machine.
The machine is easy to buy.
The hard part is deciding who you sell to.
A single CNC router can support three completely different businesses, with hourly revenues that differ by several times. Most workshops start in subcontracting, because it is the easiest way to fill the machine, and stay there out of inertia, not calculation.
The entry threshold is the lowest in the series
You do not need an industrial building, an overhead crane, a special power connection or a team. One machine, a space of around a hundred square metres, proper extraction and one person who knows the software. You test the business model without tying up capital in machines you may never use.
The same machine, four materials
MDF, chipboard, plywood, solid wood, but also acrylic, composite panels and polystyrene for dimensional letters. Each material opens up a different type of customer, and moving from one to another is a matter of tooling and settings, not of a new machine.
Repeat orders are almost free
Preparing the file and the program is done once. The second order for the same item starts from the archive, with near-zero preparation cost. That is why a CNC workshop becomes profitable on returning customers, not on one-off orders.
It scales on the real bottleneck
After the first few months you will know exactly which orders you turn down and why. That is the list for the second machine, and it comes from data, not from guesswork. It is the healthiest way to grow a production shop.
One spindle,
six different operations.
It is not the machine that changes, it is the tool. Each type of cutter produces a different cut profile and, with it, a different sellable product. That is where the flexibility of this business comes from and, at the same time, its trap: without an automatic changer, every new tool means a stop.
Three different businesses,
on exactly the same machine.
The other guides in the series are structured by equipment level. Here there is only one machine, so the decision is not what you buy, it is who you sell to. Read the limits of each model too: they matter more than the product list.
Furniture factories, joinery shops and workshops with no CNC that outsource machining operations.
- Machined and profiled furniture fronts
- Curved-contour parts a saw cannot produce
- Joint recesses, pockets, cavities
- Assembly holes on special items
- The price is set by the customer, not by you. The margin is defended through speed and through the absence of rework, not through quoting.
- You depend on a few large customers. Losing one leaves your machine empty for a whole month.
- You do not build a brand: your part reaches the end user with somebody else's name on it.
Advertising firms, agencies, event organisers and end customers who want personalised objects.
- Dimensional letters and numbers, in MDF, acrylic or polystyrene
- Signage, cut-out logos, company plates, totems
- Personalised objects: gifts, trophies, plaques, games
- Models, display units, stands, stage sets
- You have to do the selling. Without a minimum commercial presence the machine sits idle, however well it cuts.
- Demand is seasonal. The peaks before holidays and events call for capacity you do not use the rest of the year.
- The orders are small and numerous, so file preparation time becomes a significant part of the cost.
Architecture practices, fit-out companies, hotels, restaurants, retail spaces.
- Perforated and relief decorative panels, for walls and ceilings
- Screens, room dividers, interior façade elements
- Patterned door panels, wall panelling, decorative joinery elements
- One-off pieces for retail and HoReCa fit-outs
- The aesthetic requirements are strict: a difference of shade or texture between adjoining panels is visible and is rejected.
- The deadlines are fixed and tied to the site programme. A week's delay has contractual consequences.
- You need a good finish. A perfectly machined panel, badly sanded and lacquered, is a rejected panel.
The same machine hour,
three different revenues.
The machine hour costs the same whatever you produce on it. What differs is what you collect for it, and the difference between subcontracting and an interior fit-out job is several times over, on the same machine and with the same operator.
It does not mean you should work only in the most expensive segment. Subcontracting keeps your machine busy and your cash flow predictable. It only means the mix is decided, not left to happen.
Five decisions
that are taken only once.
Each of the five does not improve what you already do, it gives you access to a type of order you would otherwise turn down. The large table takes a full standard panel. The automatic tool changer removes the stops. The fourth axis opens up cylindrical parts, that is an entirely new market.
They are chosen according to the revenue model you have decided on, not the other way round. That is why the section on the three models comes before this list.
What an order looks like,
from file to delivered part.
This is where you choose the tools, the depth of cut, the feed rate and the order of operations. The same parts, programmed differently, can sit on the machine for one hour or two.
Holding tabs, that is the areas left uncut so the part does not come loose on the final pass, are the detail that separates an experienced operator from a beginner. Without them the part lifts and is destroyed, along with the cutter.
The post-processor has to match your machine. That is the check we run at commissioning, so the flow from file to part works first time.
Quote in machine hours,
not by eye.
You work out your cost per machine hour once, including labour, depreciation, tooling, power, extraction and space. Then every quote has two lines: machine hours and material. Simple, checkable and, more importantly, correct on atypical orders too.
Quoting by the piece works right up until the first 3D relief order, which sits eight hours on the machine and was quoted as a simple cut-out. That is the order that eats the margin on three good jobs.
What it cannot do
a single machine.
The part you will not find in any brochure. Read it now, so you know whether your business model depends on something a single machine does not give you. Every limit also has its answer: the second machine, bought when a repeat order calls for it, not pre-emptively.
It does not cut volume
A sliding table saw cuts a panel in minutes. The CNC cuts it in tens of minutes, wearing the cutter as it goes. On volume orders with rectangular parts, the CNC is the wrong machine, even though it can do the job.
The second machine: a sliding table panel sawIt does not apply edge banding
The visible edge of a furniture part stays unfinished. Either you subcontract it, or you leave it to the customer, or you give up the jobs that need edge banding, that is a good part of furniture work.
The second machine: a semi-automatic portable edge bander for small workshopsIt does not finish the surface
Sanding and lacquering stay manual. For a few parts that is acceptable. For series work, finishing labour becomes more expensive than the machine hour.
The second machine: an automatic wood polishing machineIt cannot keep up with series drilling
On furniture carcasses with many assembly holes, a dedicated drilling machine does in minutes what the CNC does in tens of minutes, occupying your main machine.
The second machine: a six-sided CNC drilling machineWhat else is needed
outside the machine.
The list is short, and precisely for that reason every item counts. In a single-machine workshop, an undersized extractor or an uneven spoilboard shows up immediately in part quality.
Extraction
It is not an option, it is part of the machine. MDF dust ends up in the bearings, in the electrical cabinet and in your lungs. An extractor sized to the machine's required airflow and a cyclone separator are the investment that keeps the machine alive.
The space
80 to 150 m² of usable floor is enough: the machine, a workbench, vertical panel storage and a manual finishing area separated from the machining area, so the dust does not end up in the lacquer.
Power and compressed air
A three-phase connection. Dry compressed air if the machine has an automatic tool changer or a vacuum table. Moisture in the air ends up in the tool cone and in the solenoid valves, where it causes faults that are hard to diagnose.
Tooling, as stock
Cutters are a consumable, not an investment. MDF blunts them far faster than chipboard. You keep stock of the common types, because a cutter broken in the middle of an order with a deadline costs more than the stock does.
The spoilboard
It is surfaced flat periodically and replaced when it gets thin. An uneven board produces inconsistent depths across the whole surface and defects that seem to have no cause.
Software and archive
CAD for the drawing, CAM for the toolpath, plus an archive organised by customer and by item. The second order from the same customer has to start from the archive, not from scratch. That is where the margin is.
Ten mistakes
typical of a first CNC workshop.
Almost all of them are about quoting and organisation, not technology. The machine works; what breaks is the calculation behind the order.
You buy the machine without knowing who you sell to, then accept any order at any price to keep it busy.
You quote by the piece, by eye, then get a 3D relief order that sits eight hours on the machine.
You accept files in any format and do not invoice the redrawing time, which becomes a significant part of the cost.
You buy a small table, then cut every panel in two beforehand, on every order, with a saw you do not own.
You skip the extraction to save money, then replace bearings and clean the electrical cabinet every few months.
You program without holding tabs, the part lifts on the last pass and destroys the cutter too.
You skip roughing to look fast, then burn the finishing cutter and leave marks on the part.
You do not surface the spoilboard flat and you get inconsistent depths, with defects that seem to have no cause.
You do not archive the programs, so the second order from the same customer costs as much as the first.
You buy the second machine pre-emptively, before a repeat order has shown you where the bottleneck is.
From the decision to the first paid order,
in 90 days.
Choosing the revenue model
- You decide which of the three models you enter: subcontracting, your own product or architecture.
- You talk to three potential customers in the chosen segment, before any machine order.
- You check what the CNC workshops in your area do and what they turn down, because that is where your place is.
Configuring the machine
- You settle the five decisions: table, spindle power, tool changing, workholding, fourth axis.
- You receive the configuration for your dominant material and formats, plus the starter tool list.
- You finalise the extraction solution, sized to the machine's airflow.
Financing and space
- You submit the leasing or credit file for the equipment, with a down payment from 0%.
- You prepare the space: three-phase connection, compressed air, extraction, a separate finishing area.
- You choose the CAD and CAM software and settle the flow from file to program.
Learning the workflow
- Installation and machine training, including on the software side, not just the buttons.
- You work out your cost per machine hour and build your rate list.
- You make five or six real trial parts, on the material you will work with, and measure the times.
The first paid orders
- The first order delivered, quoted in machine hours plus material, not by eye.
- Archiving the program and the file, so a repeat costs almost nothing.
- You measure which orders you turn down and why: that is the list for the second machine.
At this level of investment,
leasing is the simplest route.
Down payment from 0%, approval in 48 hours, the first instalment after delivery. Being a single machine, the application is simple, and the monthly instalment is covered by a few days of a well-loaded machine. The condition stays the same as in the other guides: line up the customers before the order, not after.
About the workshop
with a single CNC.
Yes, and it is the lowest entry threshold into manufacturing in our whole series of guides. A 3- or 4-axis CNC router, a workbench, an extraction unit and a computer are enough to deliver paid orders. What is missing is not the equipment, it is the answer to the question of who you sell to: the same machine hour can bring very different revenue depending on the segment you work in.
Tell us who you want to sell to.
We configure the machine for that.
The revenue model you are targeting, your dominant material and the formats you work with. You receive the recommended table size, the spindle power, whether you need an automatic tool changer or not, the starter tool list, the extraction solution and the financing option.
Let's build your
next project together.
Contact our team and receive a personalized offer within a maximum of 24 working hours.
10 Poitiers Blvd, 700671 Iași, Romania