I hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it useful, and I hope that whatever machine you get will get a lot of use!

Speaking more generally… the designs for laser cutters are usually just 2D vector image files. So in most cases anything that can produce those can be used to produce the designs for your projects.

I personally would not recommend them for very small things and things requiring a lot of details (unless you get a machine specifically designed for this). I would also not recommend them if you want to primarily work with materials like acrylic. While a CNC is capable of cutting and engraving acrylic, it’s not all that easy to achieve (since acrylic melts when cutting it using high speed) and you are probably better off with a laser cutter.

Let’s begin with the most obvious and popular choice. 3D printers are the only one of the three devices mentioned here using additive method of manufacture — they add material to build the final product. Compared to subtractive method this gives them a certain advantage. Mainly that they can make a product where the middle is shaped differently (or is partially hollow) than the outside of the product. This means that they are more versatile and can make a bigger range of different products.

Laser cutters and engravers are next on our list. This is the first subtractive manufacturing method presented here. Laser cutters use a (powerful) laser to remove (more specifically burn off) the material.

Material choices: Material choices here are a bit better than with 3D printers. A K40 cutter will usually be able to at least engrave materials like acrylic, wood, cardboard, some plastics, …

Good choice for: A lot… of the three options this one is the most versatile when it comes to different shapes. People have been using them for making replacement parts, various enclosures (raspberry pi, arduino, custom projects …), jewelry, drones, RC parts, holders, …

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For cutting you are a bit more limited. Usually they have no issues cutting acrylic (depends on the type and thickness though), paper and thicker cardboard. They are also able to cut some types of wood (usually thinner pieces). Balsa, MDF, plywood (although this one is nearing the edge of practicality) and some others.

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This is a question that a lot of hobbyists and makers (should) ask before jumping into the world of computer aided manufacturing. Based on my experience I hope to make your choice easier or at least give you a brief overview of what you can expect from these different machines.

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I will talk about FDM printers throughout this, but here is just some information on SLA… SLA printers are usually quite cheap (around 300-400$/€ mark) and offer superior print quality to FDM printers. However they usually have a very limited print volume, the resin used tends to be more expensive than FDM filament and is harder (and more dangerous) to work with. They require a bit of extra equipment (like UV light source), chemicals for cleaning and lots of gloves. They are very popular in the community making miniature models because of their print resolution.

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And finally the CNC machines. Another subtractive manufacturing method. This one removing the material using a high speed rotating “blade”.

I’ve always been a tinkerer and I’ve been playing around with electronics and microcontrollers ever since my first year of high school if not before. But my skills for presenting these projects were never the greatest. In recent years the prices of things like 3D printers, CNC milling machines and laser cutters, dropped drastically and hobbyists like me could finally enter the world of computer aided manufacturing. With that I could finally make cases for my projects that looked nice and I could make things that simply weren’t possible before.

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Material choices: Out of the three machines CNCs are the most versatile when it comes to materials. Material choices depend mostly on your machine. Pretty much all of them can handle various wood options which is probably the most popular material for CNC machines.

They are also the loudest and depending on the material the most messy machine. Blades spinning and cutting material at high speed require a lot of power and that means noise. It also means that you will most likely need a vacuum cleaner running while the machine is working — which means even more noise. Seeing how they can be quite large you will also need a proper space (since most won’t just fit on your desk next to your computer).

They are probably the most complex machines out of the three and you will probably need a bit more time until you are comfortable with them. If you want more complexity you have an option of more than three axis CNC, but those are not affordable enough for hobbyists just yet.

If you are just a regular maker without any experience with these machines or without a specific use case I would recommend that you get yourself a 3D printer to start. They are the cheapest and probably the most versatile in what you can make with them. If however you have a specific use case — get the machine that will serve that purpose the best. If you are like me you will in the end find a use case for all three and will get them all. I personally use my CNC machine the most, but that doesn’t mean that it would be the same for you.

A lot of this depends on your actual machine as well. While these machines all speak g-code they do use different firmwares and not all options are the same. Open source GRBL is probably the most popular with the hobby machines, but when compared to 3D printers this is a bit less standard.

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Not so good choice for: These machines are very similar to laser cutters when it comes to their downsides. Complex designs are easier here (since you get a proper 3 axis machine), but you are still quite limited (things like overhangs are absolutely impossible with a 3 axis CNC). A lot of things depend on your choice of cutters and materials as well as your choice of the machine.

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Another thing to note… 3D printing is quite slow. So if you are planning to start selling your 3D printed products you need to keep this in mind. A larger item can take many hours to print.

Complex parts with lots of overhangs are also problematic (imagine printing something like a tree — you can’t print stuff in air). While you can print support material that can be removed, this doesn’t always work the best.

Also forget cutting or engraving anything metallic. For engraving metal you need either a different type of laser or a more powerful laser than these machines use.

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Various plastics and composite materials are also very popular (although I would not recommend them for acrylic). Making PCBs with them is also a very popular choice.

What follows is my experience with these three different device types and some tips for anyone considering getting one of them. Maybe you thought that a 3D printer is what you need, but you actually want a CNC machine. Or maybe you just have a specific use in mind, but don’t know which machine will serve you better.

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Not so good choice for: Large items. While you can always glue the various parts together you are limited to the size of your print bed. And for most entry level printers this is usually around 20cm in x and y axis.

Pricing: This question is probably the hardest to answer for CNC machines. The range here is huge. Out of the three they are probably the most expensive option. Some small “desktop” size machines exist (that may suit your needs), but generally you will be looking at around the 700$/€ price tag or more. Popular machines in the hobby world are X-Carve and Shapeoko.

Similar construction to a 3D printer with one difference — while 3D printers are usually relatively small, CNC machines tend to be larger but less tall. Because of how they remove the material you are actually quite limited by the maximum height in the Z axis. This is due to the fact that the cutters that you use are usually quite short in length (more length means more flex).

We talked about all three main options for computer aided manufacturing at home and took a quick glance over them. All three machines are essentially the same (some sort of a tool moving in the XYZ axis), use very similar structural designs, similar (if not the same) steppers and stepper drivers, and speak the same language (g-code). Despite that they are still very different with very different use cases and I hope that I was able to highlight a few of them and make your choice easier.

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FDM filament usually comes on various spool sizes — usually weighing around 1kg per spool which should in most cases last you for quite a while.

Probably the most popular option is a generic 40W CO2 cutter/engraver (which I own). These are collectively known as K40 by the internet. They come as assembled ready to go units with everything that you need. They will cost around 400$/€ or less. At that price point they have no programmable power control (power setting is manual using a knob) and no Z axis control (technically they are 2D machines). But they can cut some materials as well as engrave them. Some add Z-axis control (for easier focusing), and programmable power levels but those will usually cost around 1000$/€+.

The supplied software with K40 cutters is called LaserDRW. This is quite an easy to use piece of software where you can make your designs (and import other designs as images) and send them straight to the machine. It does the job pretty well and I personally haven’t had the need to use something else. An open source plugin for Inkscape exists as well where you can export the file format that you can then use with the supplied software.

When comparing them to 3D printers these machines tend to be a lot more customize-able out of the box. You can get them in different sizes depending on your needs and space constraints (working area around 1m by 1m is nothing shocking) and different spindle options (depending on materials that you want to work with).

You have a choice of different technologies that make this possible, but in the hobby world you are currently mostly limited to two… FDM (fused deposition modeling) printers are the ones you are probably most familiar with. They use a spool of (some sort of plastic — called filament) material that gets melted and deposited layer by layer on top of the previous one to make the final product. The other technology that recently became popular is SLA (stereolithography). This uses a liquid UV curable resin that gets selectively hardened by shining UV light onto it (either using laser light source or an LED source masked by an LCD).

Software support: Being the most popular choice for hobby use means that there are many different options out there. For the majority of 3D printers you are not limited to a specific piece of software to run the printer. When you make your designs (or download them from popular sites like thingiverse) you usually export them into an .stl file (which is a generic 3D model format). After that you use a piece of software called a slicer. Slicers take your 3D models and enable you to prepare them for print — they create the machine code that your printer will print (called .gcode) based on your settings. Popular choices for slicers are Cura, Slic3r, Simplify3D, … Some printers come with their own, but can usually run with the one of above ones.

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Pricing: 3D printers in recent years have become really cheap so they are the obvious choice for a first time owner. You can get your own from 150$/€ up. Look around for various reviews to find the one best suitable for you. Generally a lot of them are based on the same (Prusa i3) design with various changes and improvements. My recommendation is that you get one that includes a heated build plate since this gives you less hassle when printing and enables you to experiment with more materials down the line (without a heated print bed you are mostly limited to PLA only).

Pricing: The list of choices here is a lot more limited when comparing it to 3D printers. You have a choice of low power desktop engraving only machines — often come as kits that you can assemble. They will cost up to about 200$/€. These can be used to cut cardboard and paper and engrave some materials.

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A 1kg spool of filament will cost you about 15–20$/€ for basic PLA/ABS (available in various colors). More exotic materials are usually more expensive and can cost up to about 50$/€ per spool.

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Not so good choice for: Complex designs… Because they are really 2D machines (the depth of the engraving and cutting is dependent on the speed and power setting) you can’t really vary the depth of the cut on the fly. So the most that you can get is a cut piece of material (with holes and other shapes) with some engraving done on top. With some cleverly designed shapes you can of course assemble them to make a 3D object, but this is not something that you get out of the box.

Good choice for: Creating simple acrylic (or thin wood) enclosures with front panels. They can cut and engrave pieces really quickly so they are suitable for producing enclosures for the projects that you are selling. They can create really professional looking front panel designs with clear and sharp small text (something that you can’t do with the other two alternatives).

Software and support: Software choices here are a bit more complicated. A lot of CNC manufacturers offer some basic software that can do 2.5D manufacturing for free. But if you want a more 3D experience your choices get a bit more limited. Very popular choice for CNC machines is Autodesk Fusion 360 (very popular with 3D printers as well) which is available free for non commercial use. You also have other options, but some are quite expensive.

Good choice for: Furniture making, sign making, art making, making musical instruments, … anything where you need materials that just can’t be done with the other machines. And anything where you need a machine capable of doing large format work. PCBs are also a common thing although boards with SMD parts are near the edge of their capability.

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Another popular choice is also sign making and other art projects. If you want to engrave more complex pictures you will however probably want something with a programmable laser power level.

Material choices: With FDM printers you are mostly limited to different varieties of plastics — PLA and ABS being the most popular choices. Some special flexible materials and wood-effect materials are also available, but are less common.

Software and support: Software support for these cutters is a bit more complicated. A standard K40 cutter will come with a hardware license dongle that needs to be plugged into your computer in order for the cutter to work with the supplied software. I am not sure if any other software works with these cutters without the need for electronics replacement.