Colleague wants to step down from site work(joinery) Has recently got 3 axis CNC router with large air bed he wants to use it to concentrate on producing high end often curved wooden staircases £20 k plus. I know there are a number of skilled CNC types on here so any thoughts on this? eg software/pitfalls I used to teach some CAD but mainly 2D stuff so not a lot of help to him.
Thanks for any help

Sounds like a decent plan assuming he knows his market well enough. 3 axis routers tend to be used for 2D (or 2.5D) but you can do full 3D on them. Anything 3D cut will likely need a fair bit of finishing. I suspect he’ll end up mostly doing 2D cutting then building those bits up to form the structure. Still useful to model the finished product in 3D cad to break down into 2D elements.

For software there is a wide range out there from free/cheap to expensive. I’ve used the expensive stuff when working for big companies, now I’m self employed I can’t justify the expense and use the free and cheap stuff. It actually works very well. Depends how much learning he’s willing to do as there will be a learning curve. I wouldn’t throw a lot of money at software from the outset. Use the free stuff until you hit a limitation

Also depends what age and control system is on the machine. If he’s picked up an old Wadkin VX then Solidworks etc isnt going to be much help to him.

thanks good point with software nickjb, i shall have a chat with him about how he works cos even a small curved component will need a big slab of probably v expensive hardwood

I think its a german machine but were on a works night out so all a bit hazy i shall dig a bit deeper for details

Autodesk Fusion 360 is worth a look, you can download a 30 day trial and use it for free for non commercial purposes. It’s relatively easy to use and there are plenty of tutorials on Youtube.