Mastering Digitally Controlled Machines: Laser Cutters, 3D Printers, CNC Mills, and Vinyl Cutters to Make Almost Anything

Take control of your machine building and production processes with computer-run tools to safely use, or even build, a durable machine for use in your garage or even a startup company. This book provides best practices for laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC mills, vinyl cutters, and more.

You'll begin by learning the history of digitally controlled tools, as well as how they work and what materials you can use with them. With this knowledge, you won’t just learn how to make common machines work, you’ll go to the next level and build your own machine—whether that be a plasma cutter or a CNC milling machine.

You will learn how they use these tools to create amazing products, art, and even new machines! You’ll also find handy overviews of tools, software, and materials to use in a reference appendix. After reading Mastering Digitally Controlled Machines you’ll be able to create something for yourself, your community, or your company.

What You’ll Learn

Use accessible computer-controlled machines safely to make anything you want to build

Fit the right tool and materials with the right projectsBuild your own CNC machine custom tailored to your project’s needs

“This book should be mandatory reading for C-suite executives and board members. It shows you how to move from viewing cybersecurity as a risk to avoid, and a cost center that does not add value and is overhead, to seeing cybersecurity as an enabler and part of your core strategy to transform your business and earn customer and stakeholder trust.”

—Paul Connelly, First CISO at the White House and HCA Healthcare

Who This Book Is For

People who want to understand how accessible computer-controlled tools work and build any kind of product themselves. Makerspaces, Fab Labs, and similar spaces will benefit. And people who want to create prototypes and products for themselves or their company/ startup, or to start creating prototypes without much prior knowledge.

About the Author

​Jean-michel Molenaar helped create the first Fab Labs in the Netherlands, after which he moved on to other countries to do the same. He has managed a company in the UK selling tools internationally, implemented the use digitally controlled machines at Tufts University as a professor, and started the Resilience Collective, a humanitarian effort to use digital technology for the most vulnerable populations. He has created makerspaces in over 12 countries and has spoken about education and digital tools during various conferences around the world. He lives in the French alps with his wife and their 3 sons.

Daniele Ingrassia has taught at Fab Academy for 6 years, and served as a Fab Lab mentor since 2017. He is a Fab Lab Guru, permanent scientific staff member of the Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences, and the owner of his own machine building company. With a background in computer science, he now implements local digital fabrication courses in official university programs and develops open source hardware. Leaving behind a long series of Fab Lab-made projects, Daniele managed to develop several open source machines, such as a dual source laser cutter and the largest open source 3D printer. With projects being replicated in many other countries worldwide, Daniele has held several fabrication and machine building workshops around the world. He lives in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.