Hi guys,

I'm totally new to the CNC scene... if you've not read my new member post, feel free to say Hi!

Can anyone give me a brief overview of how CNC actually works?

I'm not taking about how the machine technically operates but how you go from loading a piece of material into the machine to taking it out after the machine has done it's thing.

For example... I've got a 300mm x 300mm piece wood (any wood?) In my machine and I want to carve 'TOM' into it.

How does it do that? As the machine operator, what do I need to do (explained in a beginner friendly way) to make the machine do that?

What software do I need? What tooling would I need? What skills do I need?

I appreciate this is probably a massively open ended question but I'm trying to learn from the ground up with basically no knowledge - I've never even seen a CNC machine operating before.

If anyone would care to take the time to explain a simple step by step thats easy for a total beginner to understand, that would be massively appreciated.

Tom