CNC plywood cutting products are everywhere as the plywood is a common board material in life. Similar to MDF board and particle board, plywood sheet is also a kind of cost-efficient board material. However, it also has distinct characteristics and structure. This article will give a brief introduction to the definition and types of the plywood. And the following lists 10 popular CNC plywood cutting applications and recommend 4 best CNC plywood cutting machine. I hope that this article is helpful for your CNC router projects
I. What is plywood
Plywood is a kind of three-layer or multiple-layer board material. And it is manufactured from thin layers or “plies” of wood veneer that are glued together. The number of layers is usually odd and the wood grain direction of the adjacent layers is perpendicular to each other. Plywood has its own advantages and drawbacks.
Advantages:
Good strength and durability compared to MDF
Less susceptible to water damage
Easily polished or painted
Hold screws well
Resistive to shrinking, warping, twisting and cracking.
Drawbacks:
Expensive than MDF and particle board
Get splinter from edges during transportation
Quite difficult to cut
Emit toxic volatile organic compound
Difficult for common people to judge which kind of wood veneer is used
Types of plywood
Plywood falls into many types according to different criteria. Based on the wood veneer it uses, plywood may include bamboo plywood, spruce plywood, birch plywood, walnut plywood, oak plywood etc. In addition, plywood can also fall into softwood plywood, hardwood plywood, aircraft plywood, marine plywood, flexible plywood, decorative plywood etc.
Best way to cut plywood
There are many plywood cutting tools, such as cutting plywood with jigsaw or electric saw, cutting plywood with router, or with a plywood laser cutter. But for plywood workshops, the best way to cut plywood is to use plywood CNC machine. The CNC plywood cutting machine mainly includes plywood CNC router, oscillating knife plywood CNC router and plywood laser cutter.
For cutting plywood sheet with a plywood CNC machine, you may need plywood router bits. For example, spiral upcut or downcut compression plywood router bits made of solid tungsten carbide. Such plywood router bits can cut with a shear action when cutting plywood. They push the chips and cuttings towards the center of the cut so that the outer edges don’t get hairy look
II. CNC plywood cutting applications
Plywood is one of the most common materials for furniture and also has wide applications in aircraft, vessels, trains, vehicles, buildings and packaging boxes. Plywood for indoor use generally uses the less expensive urea-formaldehyde glue, which has limited water resistance. But outdoor and marine plywood are designed to withstand moisture. They often use water-resistant phenol-formaldehyde glue to prevent delamination and to retain strength in high humidity.
The following shows 10 popular CNC plywood cutting applications
Indoor floors, walls and roofs
The indoor CNC plywood cutting floors, walls and roofs are one the most common applications of plywood sheet for decoration. The indoor decoration usually adopts spruce plywood, birch plywood, and bamboo plywood etc. Such plywood material has good flatness and relatively uniform overall panel thickness and is free of carbonization. The plywood flooring and walls have smooth surface and uniform structure. They also have good moisture resistance performance. The method to cut plywood flooring is also simple. Any plywood CNC machine could achieve the plywood flooring cutting easily
Furniture
The most commonly seen plywood indoor applications also include CNC plywood cutting furniture. Stainable and paintable plywood are often for making shelves, cabinets, wardrobes and other furniture. The plywood not only has all characteristics of natural wood, like light volume weight, high strength and beautiful grains. It also has such advantages as good moisture and corruption resistance and less liable to deform that the natural wood has not. Therefore, the CNC plywood cutting furniture is quite popular in customers. The cabinets in bathroom and kitchen and other area with high humidity may need waterproof plywood as basic material
Indoor decorations
The CNC plywood cutting products are also good choice for indoor decorations. For example, the three-layer plywood is often used for making door panels of cabinets, wardrobes, cupboards etc. The five-layer plywood, since it has stronger flexibility and support force, can be used as the decoration veneer of an arch. The baseboard may adopt nine-layer plywood due to its stronger stability and screw holding ability. You can use plywood CNC router to engrave the patterns on plywood decoration veneer and baseboard
Outdoor construction purposes
CNC plywood cutting applications for outdoor construction include concrete formwork projects, ready-to-paint surfaces for constructions, structure panels, scaffolding materials, outdoor plywood balcony, stairs, handrails etc. Exterior glued plywood or waterproof plywood is suitable for outdoor use.
For example, due to the high humidity in the air, the wharf, factories and residential houses near the sea or river tend to choose waterproof plywood, marine plywood or other plywood sheet with higher moisture resistance. Besides, some plywood has such characteristics as favorable weight to strengthen ratio, minimal deflection, high durability, good chemical resistance and good machinability. So it is suitable for developing concrete shuttering projects
Packages and boxes
Compared with other wooden boxes, CNC plywood cutting packages and boxes have a lot advantages. Plywood boxes are easy to assemble, to hold various screws and fixtures, customizable in dimensions, and safe for builder. The CNC plywood cutting boxes are ideal for everything from light to heavy, sensitive or high value products. And they can protect against the ravages of difficult transport, long-term storage, and climate changes. As the plywood sheet can hold screws well, the plywood boxes can also be locked firmly. Making of such CNC plywood cutting packages is relatively easy, cutting plywood with router and assembling the plywood sheet into a box with screws or other fixtures
Outdoor signs and fences
Using plywood for privacy fencing projects can provide seclusion from neighbors and a security barrier for your home. The CNC plywood cutting fences have such benefits as inexpensive, moisture resistant, quick installation and customization. You may make your own plywood CNC plans about the fences and cut plywood with your plywood CNC router. Exterior grade or waterproof plywood is ideal for fences because of its strength and weatherproof characteristics, such as spruce plywood and birch plywood
Since the plywood has smooth surface and is easy to paint, the CNC plywood cutting signs are quite common. Plywood signs are strong and can last a long time if properly finished and properly maintained. The sign shape can be easily cut with a plywood CNC machine or plywood laser cutter, and the carved details or cut out letters are realized by a plywood CNC router with various plywood router bits
High-end loud speakers
We have mentioned in the MDF CNC cutting projects that the MDF is an ideal material for making speakers. But if MDF isn’t available, the CNC plywood cutting enclosure could be a good choice. Popular for its rich density and rigidity, plywood is also the best wood for a speaker box since it facilitates better clarity and tone.
As birch plywood is known for its durability, choosing a birch plywood cutting speaker would be great for you especially if you are always off to long, bumpy roads. In comparison to MDF, birch plywood is more expensive. Nonetheless, the quality of sound is superior. Except for birch plywood, marine plywood, oak plywood and pine plywood are also good options for making plywood speaker enclosures
Vehicle internal body work
CNC plywood cutting applications for vehicle internal body may range from sound insulation and fire resistance to durable coatings and lightweight panels. The plywood vehicle applications have such characteristics as sound insulation, high strength and elasticity properties. For example, acoustic plywood reduces the propagation of sound between exterior and interior spaces such as the motor and passenger area. And there are also some fire resistance plywood flooring inside a bus, protecting the safety of passengers
Boat
Most of the wooden boats and canoes adopts plywood. The most commonly used plywood sheet is marine plywood, because it is of higher quality with smaller voids and fewer patches. And the inner veneer of marine plywood also has higher grade. Therefore, the CNC plywood cutting boats made of marine plywood are more stable, have less potential for checking, and better overall strength and stiffness. The plywood boats can be built with the plywood cutting tools in the average home workshop. And any plywood CNC router can achieve the plywood cutting work
Skateboard
Plywood is a suitable material for many sport instruments, for example, skateboards. The CNC plywood cutting skateboard is usually made of 6 to 9-layer plywood sheet. To withstand damage and stress, the CNC plywood cutting skateboard can’t be made of only one piece of wood.
When making a plywood skateboard, you may choose various thin layers of veneer, glue and press them together for a few hours to build the deck. Then you can cut a shape that you like with your plywood cutting tools or plywood CNC machine and paint your favorite colors and patterns. Don’t forget to install the wheels. Changing the number of pieces in the skateboard or the thickness of the sheets will affect its flexibility, weight, and skating properties.
In addition, the skateboard ramps often adopt plywood as well. Plywood is often used to create curved surfaces because it can easily bend with the grain. Skateboard ramps often utilize plywood as the top smooth surface over bent curves to create transition.
III. CNC plywood cutting machine recommendation
After seeing the above plywood applications in various fields, I believe that you have a preliminary thought about your plywood CNC plans. Before that, Ill recommend 4 types of plywood CNC machine to you
6090 hobby/desktop CNC plywood cutting machine
This plywood CNC machine has relatively small working size of 600*900mm. So it is suitable for cutting and engraving small-sized plywood sheet, such as advertising signs, skateboards, guitars, crafts, small boxes etc. This plywood CNC router adopts Chinese Changsheng water cooling spindle, which ensures good cooling effect and small noise. With Taiwan TBI ball screw for Z axis, it can achieve highly precise work even on a small sized plywood.
In addition to cutting plywood, this type of plywood CNC router can also engrave patterns, letters etc. on plywood surface. Except for plywood, it can also process many other materials, like wood, plastic, acrylic, soft metal, etc. This hobby CNC plywood cutting machine has relatively low price, so it’s a quite cost-effective choice for your small plywood business
Check this video for our 6090 mini CNC router engraving patterns on a wood board. It is good at processing small and precise workpieces
4*8 3 axis plywood CNC router
This plywood CNC machine, with working size of 1300*2500mm (4ft*8ft), has basic 3 axes, and is able to cut and engrave plywood with high speed and high precision. Its spindle does not rotate, so it suitable for cutting plywood sheet and engrave on plywood surface, but not for 3D work. Working size of this CNC plywood cutting machine accepts customization. The original Italy HSD air cooling spindle ensures fast but stable operation. And the vacuum T slot table can hold the plywood sheet firmly.
Compared with cutting plywood with jigsaw and other manual plywood cutting tools, this 3 axis CNC plywood cutting machine has too many advantages. For instance, it can cut plywood much faster and more accurate, significantly saving time and manpower and improving quality. The plywood cut by CNC cutting machine has less hairy look and is convenient for the subsequent sanding process
The following video shows our 1325 3 axis CNC router engraving patterns on and cutting a wooden board with fast speed and high precision. The engraved patterns have smooth and clear surface and excellent precision. This machine is quite suitable for 2D board engraving.
1530 4 axis ATC CNC router for plywood , wood, MDF
This 1530 4 axis ATC plywood CNC machine is more complex than the hobby model. It has four axes, X, Y, Z and A axis. Except for the basic functions that 3 axis router can realize, the spindle can swing up to 180 degree to drill holes or make grooves on both sides of the plywood. In addition, this CNC plywood cutting machine has automatic tool change function, which can change 8 sets of tools automatically during working process.
Cutting plywood with this 4 axis plywood CNC machine not only saves time and manpower, but also improves processing quality and efficiency. Because you don’t have to drill holes or grooves on both sides of the plywood sheet manually. Apart from cutting and engraving on plywood, this 4 axis ATC CNC machine can also cut and engrave other materials, like wood, MDF, melamine board etc. It is also very suitable for 3D woodworking because of the 4th axis
Click the following video to see our 1530 4 axis ATC CNC router engraving, slotting, milling wood boards. Thanks to the swing spindle, it can not only engrave 3D patterns on top surface but also make grooves or drill holes on side surfaces of the board. With ATC function, it can complete multiple processes without manually change tools.
CO2 Plywood laser cutter
CO2 laser cutter is also an excellent tool for cutting plywood. This kind of CNC machine adopts CO2 as the major working gas, and the auxiliary gases include nitrogen, helium, xenon, and hydrogen. Our plywood laser cutter has functions of high power output, wide range of processing, high processing accuracy and low cost. The diameter of laser beam and spot is small, generally less than 0.5 mm, which maximize the utilization of material, and is safe and environmental friendly.
Except for plywood, this plywood laser cutter can also cut other materials, like wood, acrylic, MDF, plastic, rubber, crystal, epoxy resin etc. So if your business involves product made of other materials except plywood, the plywood fiber laser could be your first choice
This is our 150W 1390 CO2 laser cutting machine for processing non-metal materials. It is suitable for cutting small-size wood, paper, leather and fabric products with high precision.
IV. Conclusion
Similar to cutting MDF, cutting plywood also has certain precautions. The adhesives used in plywood have become a point of concern. Those adhesives may contain urea formaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde, which are carcinogenic in very high concentrations. So if you intend to use plywood flooring, furniture, doors, or other CNC plywood cutting products, please pay attention to the grade of the plywood. High grade plywood may contain low concentration of urea formaldehyde, and the price is accordingly higher than the low grade one. But compared with a healthy body, this price is affordable.
As one of the most processed wooden materials, plywood has its own special advantages and disadvantages. So before you start cutting plywood, you may have to consider you plywood CNC plans, so as to give full play the advantages and avoid the disadvantages of the plywood.