March 2026 CNC SIG Recap
We had a great March CNC SIG with a mix of rotary work, AI-assisted workflow discussion, and a lot of solid shop problem-solving. In other words, we kept Austin weird.
Highlights from the meeting
Al and AI-assisted rotary setup
One of the big topics was Al’s work using AI to help develop the rotary setup on the Laguna CNC. There’s an odd limitation Vectric has around post-processors requiring special installation steps. Totally not annoying at all. Good thing we can now have the machines figure it out.
Pete’s rotary-made pool cues
Pete brought in some beautiful pool cues he made. In fact, I’d say he kept the ball rolling. We talked through parts of the process, including epoxy work, coring out the wood, using a dowel (man, I just learned that’s how you spell it!) down the center, and a vacuum pressure chamber to keep the epoxy bubbles from doing what bubbles do.
Steve added a clever suggestion about using a straw at the bottom so the epoxy can breathe out properly. Most important verdict: the cues play great.
Brian’s CNC-controlled painting work
Brian shared updates on his CNC-controlled painting project, which led to a really interesting discussion. So far, he’s in the design phase of actually iterating with it (which is why he showed us a CAD file), but it’s looking pretty damn good! See some of the prior CNC posts for a more detailed view of it.
A couple of great AI prompting takeaways from CJ
CJ dropped two useful ideas during the discussion:
- Share the competing models’ answers so they can effectively compete with themselves
- Ask the AI what you should have asked to get to the final result after you’ve gotten the result you want.
That is sneaky-good advice, and honestly applies way beyond CNC.
Steve’s maze gift for Evelyn
Steve showed off an incredible maze piece he made for Evelyn Ophelia Freeman, James’s second child. It looked fantastic, both as a keepsake and as a piece of CNC work.
He also shared part of the workflow behind it, including generating a PNG with ChatGPT and then carrying that into the CNC process. Nice example of using AI as a tool in the pipeline instead of treating it like magic fairy dust. It’s insane how much you can do with ChatGPT.
And finally, I had to put in this ridiculously wonderful AI-driven picture Steve made of me! It’s not to scale, but it is… pretty awesome. The weird thing is… whenever I asked him what prompt he used to generate the picture, he wouldn’t say! Maybe it wouldn’t be appropriate in polite company, haha. Well thank you Steve–I look forward to cutting it out with you on your CNC this weekend!
Coming up next
Learn the Rotary on the CNC with Al–he’s gonna make your head spin!
Al will be walking us through how to use the rotary on the CNC on Saturday, March 28.
- 5:30 PM – Buddy’s Burgers
- 7:00 PM – Multi-Purpose Room at Asmbly
If you’ve been curious about rotary work, this will be a great one to attend.
April CNC SIG date change
The next CNC SIG was originally scheduled for April 5, but we’re moving it to Sunday, April 12 at 12:30 PM so it does not collide with Easter. The theme is Make Something New, and Be a Fool About it!
Thanks again to everyone who came out, shared work, asked questions, and helped make the session lively. CNC SIG continues to be one of the best places at Asmbly to see practical ideas collide in public and become better.
@jamesfreeman @SteveW @cjromb @michleon100 @sneezix @qryche @bwatt @nreiter @Kasper @TravisGood
Joaquim
