How to go from CAD drawing to CNC machined part, made easy by SendItCNC.

4 min readOct 1, 2022

Soon you too will SendItCNC! — Going from design to part

This guide will help you go from CAD design to CNC machined part. These steps are also outlined in the SendItCNC Quickstart Guide.

Prerequisites:

Autodesk Fusion 360
Download the SendItCNC add-in to Autodesk Fusion 360
A SendItCNC account

Getting Ready

Get the SendItCNC Add-in

Open Autodesk Fusion 360. In the Design workspace, select Utilities on the toolbar, then click the ADD-INS item and select “Fusion 360 App Store”. Download the SendItCNC App and run the installer. The SendItCNC app will automatically start the next time you start Fusion 360. (You can run it now without restarting from the ADD-INS toolbar item.) The SendItCNC add-in appears at the end of the Utilities toolbar.

Automatically Install the SendItCNC CAM Resource Files

Click on the SendItCNC add-in icon in the Utilities toolbar. If this is your first time, you’ll see a message saying that the necessary resources need to be installed. Just follow the prompts and a new project called “SendItCNC” will be created containing required design files. As well, necessary resources like tool libraries and CAM templates will be uploaded.

You’ll also be prompted to load the CAM defaults file that the add-in has placed in your downloads folder.

Automatic CAM Setup

Open the Design

We’ll use the design for this small box found in the SendItCNC project, in SendItCNC/Examples/Box/EasyBox.

Create a CAM Setup

Click on the SendItCNC add-in icon (found in the Utilities toolbar). The MANAGE SETUP command window will appear. All that’s required is to select the model (the box in this case) and click Create Setup.

You’ll see the add-in open a CAM setup and import your design. The default CAM setup is for 3-axis milling with the workpiece held in a vise. There are lots of options (vise jaws, stock allowances) but the defaults are usually a good starting point. Just click OK and you’re done. You’ve created a CAM setup, complete with a workholding model and a model representing the raw stock material, and it was actually that easy.

CAM Operations

Switch to the Manufacture Workspace

Next, expand the “1st Operation” setup item. You’ll see that three CAM operations are already provided, so do a Generate to compile them for your model (the EasyBox). The Generate command is found in the Actions toolbar item, or by right-mousing on the “1st Operation” setup. The operations provided are:

A probing operation to let the CNC machine precisely locate the workpiece.
A roughing operation to cut the workpiece to the approximate size of your part.
A facing operation to finish the top surface of the part.

These are a typical starting point for CNCing parts like this.

Simulate

Run the Simulate command to see the provided starter set of CAM operations animated to show how they would be executed on a CNC machine. Of course, you’ll want to add additional CAM operations here to completely machine and finish your part. It’s typical to have numerous iterations of adding and tweaking CAM operations, and then Simulating, to get ready to make the part on an actual CNC machine.

The EasyBox example, with the complete CAM for the 1st operation is in SendItCNC/Examples/With CAM/Box/EasyBox 1st Op. If you have a look, you’ll see that several more CAM operations were added to finish the part.

Submit Your CNC Job

Send the Design to a Cloud CNC Machine

Click the SendItCNC icon while in the Manufacture workspace. The SendItCNC Submit command will export the design as a “.f3d” file (to your downloads folder), and take you to the SendItCNC website to get the part cut on a cloud CNC milling machine.

After you create a userid on the SendItCNC website you’ll be able to go through the job submission process. You’ll see details of the CNC machining job, including material size, setup details, and estimated machining time. You’ll have to add a description of your part, and select the exported .f3d file (from your downloads folder). When complete, you’ll see an instant quote and available machining time.