just asking. what software is the best to use for a cnc cutting of wood? any ideas would be helpful. kinda new to cnc cutting.
I’ve used fusion 360 but it does lack any nesting. I pulled apart the model and laid it out to cut it. I guess it depends what you are doing.
Are you asking about the CAM software or there software that actually runs the mill/router?
CAM software is what let’s you choose what bits ( 1/4" endmill, etc.) and how deep each cut is
Added to the above, it also depends on what kind of controller your cnc machine uses
Tell us what you’ve got and what you want to make with it.
My tool chain = Fusion 360-Chillipeppr-TinyG
I learned recently from a friend that he made a simple CNC cutter for plywood using ramps with arduino mega. I wanted to know if the firmware for 3d printing has some support for CNC. If so what would be the best firmware I could use. Also what software to use afterwards for my cut. The thickest plywood I will be cutting is 3/4" . Thanks.
Another thing. I own a 3D printer and I see the stepper motors are small. Understandable since the object they move hardly gives resistance. Is it possible to get the same small nema 17 for a cnc and just use a gear box to increase power or better to get the big steppers. Thanks guys.
There are people using 3d printer chassis for things other than 3d printing. Tech2C is laser cutting and drawing with his. Thomas Sanladerer converted one of his printers in to a router. The hardware you are considering is capable within reason. Sienci Labs uses an Arduino with a shield to drive their open source router. There are a few Chinese? cheap routers that also use an Arduino and a shield. I believe grbl is what most of the purpose built routers use.
Thank you so much. What about the software itself. The counterpart of the slicer in 3d printing. Is there that is better suited for wood work? Thanks
Openbuilds.com should give you ideas about stepper motors for your machine.
Software: Sienci Labs has videos on their tool chain. Many big YouTubers are excited about fusion 360.
http://Openbuilds.com
Thanks a lot kyle. Appreciate you taking time to explain to someone new at this. Wish you good health.
The well wishes are much appreciated. I hope my information is helpful and mostly lacking in errors. 
@JD_Engineering “I learned recently from a friend that he made a simple CNC cutter for plywood using ramps with arduino mega”
Yep, simple, basic CNC routing can be done using such a device, however it won’t be fast or handle large, complex jobs well - like milling 2.5D objects in timber. There are better solutions at an almost similar final price. Look at Azteeg’s controllers or one of the SMK boards out of China. I would say look at the TinyG, but there have been too many failures for me to recommend - a compromise is the G2 - basically a RAMPS shield on a Arduino Due running TinyG firmware - the best of all worlds.
“I wanted to know if the firmware for 3d printing has some support for CNC. If so what would be the best firmware I could use.”
Ramps implements decoding GCode - pretty much all CNC machines use a controller that decodes GCode. But, RAMPS is specifically designed to support 3D printing - there’s better firmware out there, as I mentioned above.
“Also what software to use afterwards for my cut. The thickest plywood I will be cutting is 3/4” . Thanks."
I do pretty much what you are describing - cut sheet goods using a home-built CNC router.
My toolpath includes SketchUp, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Fusion 360 as design tools - mostly… there are more. From design to create the GCode you need a CAM tool, to turn those vectors into GCode. Fusion can do that with an internal plugin, but I tend to use CamBam for anything not designed in Fusion (learning curve for Fusion is STEEP and the price isn’t cheap) if you were setting up from scratch, there’s probably a better toolchain for you - what are you making from your ply sheets? If sign writing is your thing, look at Vectric apps.
You really need to decide what it is you are going to use the machine for, that will lead you to certain toolchains and apps.
I make furniture, signs, boxes, carving, lamps, and electronic doodads. I find that for anything I want to assemble into a larger or more complex object I will design in 3D using Fusion or Sketchup and then break down into flat components for cutting, at which time I either pass it through the Fusion CAM plugin or through CamBam. For signs, boxes, doll houses, etc. I use Vectric apps. For carving or 2.5/3D ‘raster’ jobs, I only use Vectric.
I started off large - with an 8’x4’ machine to cut whole ply and MDF sheets, but since then I have rebuilt the machine to 30"x45" as I found that the size was more of a hindrance. I still want to cut full-size sheets, and will probably look at something like the Maslow for that - $500 complete, plus a bit of timber. http://www.maslowcnc.com
It’s slow - much slower than my ‘bed’ CNC router, but then I’m not in that much of a hurry.
I saw in your other post that you were asking about NEMA17 steppers - not a chance they will suffice for cutting 18mm ply. You need a strong spindle and a big power supply with NEMA23’s that can hold 200oz+ to be cutting thick sheet goods at a decent rate. It’s unlikely theres a NEMA17 that can move a gantry on a CNC router at enough of a rate to do decent work. Given that three NEMA23 steppers is going to run to about $25 ea, compared to NEMA17s at $15, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
There are plenty of designs that work for home builds and there are a number of design criteria that may affect what you choose. As you are doing straightforward cutting of sheet goods, you probably aren’t going to need a ballscrew-based unit and can get away with rack and pinion using GT3 toothed belt. Easy, cheap, reliable.
Openbuilds Ox has served me well - the metal plates cost about $100, the alloy and other mechanicals about $350 and the electronics/steppers/controller about $250 by the time I included every little switch and run of cable. You can buy a complete turnkey kit to make a 6-“x40” Workbee for ~$1500 https://openbuildspartstore.com/openbuilds-workbee-60-x-40/
That and the Ox are a quick and simple build and you can repurpose all the components if you decide to go a different route, without throwing anything away. A good place to start for a new builder.
Of course you can make something from scratch using MDF or ply, but the chance of making something unsquare and of it costing more than an Ox/Workbee is a real likelihood.
So, you have a number of things to consider before you worry about such things as firmware and toolchain:
What is your budget for your build?
What are you going to make?
What size does your workarea need to be?
What speed do you need to achieve? Is your work time-critical or are there other constraints?
What’s the budget for your build?
What’s your duty cycle - how busy do you want your machine to be?
What is your mechanical, electronic and software design experience?
What’s the budget for your build?
And no, I didn’t make a mistake - whatever you think you will spend, you will probably end up spending 3x that 
If you have access to a decent industrial workshop and have skills like welding, metalwork, woodworking, electronics, software, etc. you can save yourself money by utilising those skills, but I’ve noticed that skills in one area are offset with deficiencies in others - apart from me Carpenter, electronic and mechanical engineering, software and 3D design skills naturally drew me to this hobby… and I’m always banging my head against some sort of problem or other, despite my spread of skills. I wish I could weld… it would have made so much difference to how I approach things. Maybe I’ll make a plasma cutter next
A really good place is CNCZONE - very active and no matter what you are going through, someone else has been there before. And there are some seriously talented machinists on there, active and helpful. Join up and get reading. https://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cnc-router-table-machines/
@Mike_Thornbury have you heard about/looked at either the mpcnc or the lowrider from v1engineering? They both make use of 3d printed parts, belt drive and all thread/acme rod.
@Kyle_Kerr no. I don’t 3D print.plastic and cnc aren’t happy bedfellows
I just looked at the mpcnc - you won’t cut 18mm ply with that. And it’s really not in the same league with its motion transport based on steel tubes and ball bearings.
You get what you pay for… slow, inaccurate, lightweight. I’m sure it’s fine for cutting foam and using a drag knife, or very, very slow cutting of mdf. Even with my 1…5HP hand router, I’m going to be doing a couple of passes on 18mm mdf or ply, there’s no way in hell that thing will be quicker than by hand. It’s an overgrown 3D printer.
If you want a toy to play with, it’s probably a bit of fun, but if you want to repeatedly make things accurately, you need to get something more rigid.
I use an #OpenBuilds Ox CNC router, too. I use a TinyG control board (with TinyG firmware). I’ve heard good things about Smoothieware (and may switch to it someday, but that will require a new board). I use ESTLCAM to generate the gcode. I use CNC.js to send the gcode to the TinyG. If you want to use Arduino, then an UNO and a grbl shield should be able to do it. I use FreeCAD to create my designs. The newest version of FreeCAD also has CAM features built in, but I haven’t used it (yet). CNC.js and FreeCAD are both open source software. ESTLCAM is free to try, and relatively cheap to purchase ($40 or something like that). The Ox can easily cut the wood you mention, and should be able to do light aluminum or brass milling, but I haven’t tried that…yet.