Running a custom CNC shop

Custom house signs, carved boards and engraved plaques sell well because each one is personal. That's also what makes them hard to run: every order is slightly different, and the finishing takes days, not minutes. This page is how a small CNC shop selling on Shopify and Etsy can keep it organized.

What goes wrong in a CNC shop

• Bit and stock changes. Switching from 3/4" oak with a V-bit to 1/2" HDPE with an end mill costs real time, and doing it per order wastes the day.
• Finishing takes longer than cutting. Stain, paint fill and clear coat add days. Promising the cut time instead of the finished time is how orders go out late.
• Long free-text orders. A sign with a family name, a house number and "Est. 2021" in a chosen font has three chances to be wrong.

Batch by stock and tooling

Make your batch key the material and thickness plus the machine. Within a batch, order the work so tool changes happen once: all the V-carve signs, then all the profile cuts.

Promise the finished date

Lead times should include drying and finishing. A product that needs paint fill and two coats gets more working days than one that's ready off the spoilboard. Set it once per product so every order gets an honest date.

How CrossBatch fits a CNC shop

CrossBatch is a Shopify app that puts Shopify and Etsy orders on one production queue.

• Machines and materials: add your CNC routers, then start from the CNC starter set (hardwood and MDF) and add your own stock.
• Product rules: each product sets the material, machine and lead time in working days, so a painted sign and a plain board get different promised dates. On install, CrossBatch reads your products and suggests rules.
• Batches by material and machine: group the jobs that share stock and a machine and start them together. Batches are on Starter ($19/month) and up.
• Proof approval: send a layout for approval before you cut (Pro).
• Job sheets: the buyer's text in large type, so the sign matches the order word for word.
• Etsy orders: forwarded sale emails or Etsy's Order Items file, on the same queue as Shopify.

Etsy is a trademark of Etsy, Inc. CrossBatch is not affiliated with Etsy.