From First Cut to Custom Tool: Rethinking CNC Access with AI¶
Presenter: Brian Owen
Date: 2026/07/28
Overview¶
Mr Brian Owen demonstrated custom tooling which have been developed to explore ways to decrease friction and get people quickly into milling.
These tools are based on toolpath strategies provided by Brian Owen and can be used as a "knowledge base" to build upon.
In the workshop there was a demonstration of a nametag tool. All from a single webpage, users could draw a shape which created the outline of the nametag, enter and place their name and send the job directly to the milling machine.
The program took care of creating all toolpaths, verifying all movements, and nesting. Super nice!
On the Labs site, linked below, there are also tools for quickly making shelves and a terrain carver, among others.
The Loom tool, linked below, is a tool that uses AI (Anthropic/Claude) to generate a app or a solution to a CNC milling project. In the workshop, the presenter used a prompt like "Mill a chess board". After a short while, a 3D representation of the result was presented. A built in veryfier/checker stopped it from being sent to the machine since the milling stock available was too small, but it was quite a nice and complete solution.
Resources¶
Notes¶
Very intersting work, looking forward to exploring this further ASAP.
There were hints at the upcomming Shopbot control software, a browser based solution enabling users to use the OS of their choice.
Images¶
