CNC routers have been around for a long time and, because of that, many people discount them as old technology. But, old technology or not, these machines are very versatile, and sign shops and other businesses continue to find new and creative uses for them.
数控切割机已经存在了很长时间，因此，许多人将它们视为旧技术。但是，旧技术与否，这些机器具有极高的通用性，标识商店和其他企业也在继续为它们寻找新的和创造性的用途。
Routers come in all sizes, from small models used by hobbyists to larger models for building furniture and large, 3D signs. What drives demand for CNC routers is their precision. Higher-end models can cut within 1,000th of an inch on aluminum, MDF and various sign foams.
切割机有各种尺寸，从业余爱好者使用的小型的切割机制作建筑家具，用大型的切割机制造3D标识。推动CNC切割机需求的是它们的精确度，高端型号可以在铝，MDF和其他材质上切割千分之一英寸。
Mark Gawor, president of GRG Group Inc. in Dallas, Texas, uses his Computerized Cutters CNC routers to make intricate architectural models of NFL football stadiums, office buildings, resorts and even oil drilling platforms. His shop uses other types of cutters, like laser cutters, but 85% to 90% of the work is done on a router because of that precision. He makes his models out of styrene, a thin and soft plastic, which will bow and lose dimension on a laser cutter. Because his models have to be so precise, Gawor says he needs to use the slower, older router technology to produce the best and most accurate scale models.
德克萨斯州达拉斯市GRG集团公司总裁马克·高沃（Mark Gawor）使用他的电脑切割机CNC切割机制作NFL足球场，办公楼，度假村甚至石油钻井平台的复杂建筑模型。他的商店使用其他类型的切割机，如激光切割机，但由于工作对精度要求比较高，所以85％到90％的工作是在切割机上完成的。他用苯乙烯制造模型，苯乙烯是一种薄而柔软的塑料，它在激光切割机上会变得弯曲，以至于尺寸出现问题，因为他的模型必须精确，所以马克·高沃说他需要使用较慢，较旧的切割机技术来生成最佳和最准确的比例模型。
“We’ve been doing this for over 40 years. We have figured it out, what works and what is not worth it,” he says.
马克·高沃说：“我们这样做已有40多年了。我们已经弄明白了，哪些有效，什么不值得。”
Because he isn’t running his routers on heavier materials, the spindles last a very long time. He likens his use of a router to someone running a semi-truck to pick up groceries.
因为他没有在较重的材料上运行他的，所以主轴可以使用很长时间。他把自己使用切割机比作开半卡车去取杂货。
“We are not abusing it, but it is accurate. It is running, and it is great and they are really capable machines. Routers are very underappreciated,” he says.
马克·高沃说：“我们并没有滥用它，它的精度是非常准确的。它可以正在运行，非常棒，而且它们是真正有能力的机器。切割机一直被大家低估了。”
Gawor made scale models of AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, which was built in 2009, college stadiums, soccer stadiums and Olympics venues.
马克·高沃制作了AT＆T体育场的比例模型，该体育场是达拉斯牛仔队的主场，建于2009年，是大学体育馆、足球场和奥运场馆。
Carl Ondracek, president of Plano, Texas-based Computerized Cutters, says that most routers offer the same features, but some are better than others when it comes to precision cutting. Ondracek has been building routers for 25 years. All of them are capable of cutting out 3D designs like push-through letters and channel letters.
总部位于德克萨斯州普莱诺的做智能切割刀公司（Computerized Cutters）的总裁卡尔·翁德拉克（Carl Ondracek）表示，大多数切割机都提供相同的功能，但在精密切割方面，有些切割机比其他切割机更好。 卡尔·翁德拉克已经制造了25年的切割机。所有这些都能够切割3D设计，如发光字。
Channel letters are the most lucrative part of the sign industry right now, Ondracek says. “That’s growing leaps and bounds and most people out there are using routers to cut aluminum backs and plastic faces. That’s where a lot of the money is,” he says.
卡尔·翁德拉克说：“发光字现在是标识行业最赚钱的部分。这个行业正在飞速发展，大多数人都在使用切割机切割铝背和塑料面。这是一个可以积攒财富的行业。”
He doesn’t see shops getting into specialty cutting as much, but some are using their routers to do ADA braille signage. Instead of engraving holes into a sign where plastic balls can be inserted, a router cuts the surface, leaving the raised braille bumps behind.
他不认为大部分商店都拥有专业切割技术，但一些商店使用他们的切割机做ADA盲文标识。做ADA不是在一个可以插入塑料球的标识上刻洞，而是用切割机切割表面，留下盲文凸起。
Others are using their routers to create 2D or 3D molds for thermoform projects.
其他人正在使用他们的切割机为热成型项目创建2D或3D模具。
Computerized Cutters primarily sells routers to the sign industry. The biggest things they use a router for are acrylic letters and name badges.
电脑切割机主要向标识行业销售切割机，他们使用切割机切割的最多的东西是丙烯酸字母和名称徽章。
“Routers are so versatile. Most people buy one for one reason and find five other reasons,” he says. For attachments, most sign shops want an engraving head and a tangential knife for cutting materials. Most routers will use a rotating router bit. A drag knife can cut through Coroplast, which are corrugated plastic sheets, and other foam products.
卡尔·翁德拉克说：“切割机是如此的多功能。大多数人买一个是出于一个原因，但是使用起来就会找到更多购买它的理由。对于附件，大多数标识店需要雕刻头和切割刀切割材料。切割机使用旋转切割机位。。刮刀可以切开塑料波纹板和其他泡沫制品。”
Jason Friesen, CNC sales manager for Laguna Tools in Irvine, California, says that Laguna’s customers use routers to make signs, furniture, cabinets, textured wall panels, plastic and aluminum parts for industrial applications, trade show booths, art pieces, aerospace, car audio speaker enclosures, musical instruments and custom homes.
加利福尼亚州的厚力有限公司（Laguna Tools）数控销售经理杰森·弗瑞森（Jason Friesen）表示，厚力有限公司的客户使用切割机制造标识，家具，橱柜，纹理墙板，工业切割机应用的塑料和铝制零件，贸易展览摊位，艺术品，航空航天，汽车音响音箱，乐器和定制住宅。
“CNCs allow customers to be creative in a totally different way. Anything users can imagine and draw in the software can be machined by a CNC,” he says. “The speed and accuracy of these machines gives users the ability to produce parts that are too time-consuming, complex or expensive to make by hand. By reducing production times, parts become cheaper and faster to produce, allowing shops who own a CNC to increase profits or offer a more competitive price to their customers.”
杰森·弗瑞森说：“切割机允许客户以完全不同的方式发挥创意。用户可以在软件中想象和绘制的任何东西都可以由CNC加工。这些机器的速度和准确性使用户能够生产出手工制作过于耗时，复杂或昂贵的零件。通过减少生产时间，零件变得更便宜，生产更快，允许拥有CNC的商店增加利润或为客户提供更具竞争力的价格。”
He says that a carpenter may think of building something by hand, but his process is completely different than working on a CNC router.
他说：“木匠可能会想到手工制作东西，但他的工艺与在CNC切割机上工作完全不同。”
CNCs can be used to design joinery or 3D elements that a carpenter couldn’t do with a saw, hammer and nails. Routers make “these types of shapes easier and allow carpenters to use different joinery methods to create different aesthetics,” Friesen says. “Once they get their head around how this works and use the software to get the idea into the machine for machining, they kind of open up a huge option for them to do whatever they want.”
CNC可用于设计细木工或3D元素，木匠无法用锯，锤子和钉子做。弗里森说：切割机使制造这些类型的形状更容易，并允许木匠使用不同的细木工方法来创造不同的美学。一旦他们了解了它是如何工作的，并使用软件将想法引入机器加工，他们就为他们做任何他们想做的事情开辟了一个巨大的选择。”
Laguna Tools has one customer who uses their CNC router to build wooden bike frames. Another customer makes ornate props for cosplay costumes.Textured wall panels are becoming very popular, he says. One customer built his custom home with 3D wall panels.
厚力有限公司有一位客户使用他们的CNC切割机来制造木制自行车车架。另一位顾客为cosplay服装制作华丽的道具。
“The house itself looks like a big white wave, and he used his CNC for design elements of the entire house,” Friesen says.
他说：“纹理墙板越来越受欢迎。一位客户使用3D墙板构建了他的定制住宅。”
“Guys are using these in so many capacities nowadays. They are not just limited to wood or plastics. We have a guy in Vietnam who makes entry gates for homes or driveways, all machined 3D aluminum,” he says. “It all comes down to tooling. You buy the right tool for the material you are working with.”
弗里森说：“这座房子看起来像是一个巨大的白色浪潮，他用他的CNC作为整个房子的设计元素。现在，人们正在以如此多的身份使用它们。它们不仅限于木材或塑料。我们在越南有一个人为家庭或车道制造入口门，所有机加工3D铝，这一切都归结为工具。您要为正在使用的材料购买合适的工具。“
All of Laguna’s routers, lasers and plasma tables have one thing in common. They have user-friendly controls, so the learning curve isn’t as steep as it is with other systems.
厚力有限公司的所有切割机，激光器和等离子表都有一个共同点。它们具有用户友好的控制，因此学习起来也不是非常困难。
“We like to keep it simple for our customers. We recommend the easiest software that we can depending on a customer’s needs,” Friesen says. He will sit down with a customer and find out what they need the router for and what their background is and if they are a designer who is familiar with this type of design software. That will determine what type of machine they sell to them.
弗里森说:“我们希望为客户保持简单。我们根据客户的需求推荐最简单的软件。”他将与客户坐下来，了解他们需要切割机以及他们的背景，以及他们是否是熟悉此类设计软件的设计师。这将决定他们向客户销售什么类型的机器。
Design trends in the sign industry are always changing.
标识行业的设计趋势总是在变化
“A router opens up any material a sign company would ever want to work with. By having a CNC, it gives them the ability to step out of the 2D designs that in the past were what most signs were made of,” he says. Now they can make 3D designs or add 3D elements and aesthetics to their signs.
切割机可以打开任何标识公司想要使用的材料。有了CNC，他们就有能力走出2D设计，而在过去，大多数标识都是用2D设计出来的。弗里森表示：“现在他们可以做3D设计，或者在他们的标识上添加3D元素和美学设计。”
Larry Daignault, national sales manager for AXYZ Automation Group, says that many of his company’s clients in Los Angeles and Anaheim use their CNC routers to make scenery and sets for movies and television. The company also sells a lot to custom road case manufacturers. These are specialized cases to hold sensitive equipment or musical instruments. The hard outer shell is usually made with wood and aluminum, while the interior is cut with foam.
AXYZ自动化集团(AXYZ Automation Group)全国销售经理拉里•戴诺(Larry Daignault)表示：“该公司在洛杉矶和阿纳海姆(Anaheim)的许多客户使用数控切割机制作电影和电视布景。该公司也销售很多定制道路案例制造商。这些是专门用来存放敏感设备或乐器的箱子。坚硬的外壳通常由木头和铝制成，而内部则用泡沫切割而成。”
AXYZ also makes large-format routers for aluminum and metal composite cladding for the architectural and design industry. Many buildings are being clad with aluminum composite material.
AXYZ设计切割机的目的是让它们能够向机器添加额外的工具，比如自动换刀器或视觉系统，机器最初购买的时候没有这种功能。
The exhibition and display industry is growing quickly, he says. Many companies will manufacture a custom trade show booth for clients who don’t want to take their trailer across the country or overseas for a show. They use routers to make custom stands and tables, backdrops, signage and cases to hold lighting.
拉里•戴诺表示：“展览和展示行业正在迅速增长。许多公司会为那些不想把自己的拖车带到全国各地或海外展览的客户制作一个定制的贸易展台。他们使用切割机来定制台子和桌子、背景、标识和箱子来装灯。”
The print-to-cut market is becoming very popular. Once a print comes off a flatbed UV printer, the sign shop can place the design on the router to cut it out.
从印刷到裁剪的市场越来越受欢迎。一旦打印出来的平板UV打印机，标识店可以把设计放在切割机上剪掉。
Cabinetry and woodworking industries use routers as well to do general and custom woodworking, make furniture and displays, tables and custom benches.
橱柜和木工行业也使用切割机进行一般和定制木工，制作家具和显示器，桌子和定制长椅。
“We also work closely with a lot of companies that build custom emergency vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances,” Daignault says. AXYZ also works with companies that manufacture travel trailers and motor homes.
拉里•戴诺说：“我们还与许多生产消防车和救护车等定制应急车辆的公司密切合作。”AXYZ还与制造旅行拖车和房车的公司合作。
Most CNC routers now come with attachments that allow users to perform die cutting.
现在大多数数控切割机都带有附件，允许用户进行模切。
Along with cutting and routing, this spindle is being used to touch up the edge of a plastic sheet.
除了切割和布线外，该主轴还用于修补塑料板的边缘。
