Relaunching Project Creativity: CNCKing.com Rises Again!
Before there was CNCROi.com (ROI has a double meaning here, it means Return On Investment but also King in French), there was CNCKing.com. That’s where I worked day and night designing project files for people who run shops like myself around the world with quick projects to cut with their machines.
It quickly became one of the biggest sites of its kind, selling files and taught me a lot about CNC machines and their operations in general before this company ever started. It was originally started as WoodMarvels.com but I rebranded the business as I wanted to expand in projects beyond “wood” like plastics (for 3D printers), metal (for plasma cutters) etc.
CNCROi.com is very much the creative end of what’s really possible using these machines that we have in our shop, even if you don’t have one of these, the project ideas are well worth an examination if you are curious… and even that’s just scratching the surface of what can be done.
When customers want to get a feeling for what we can do here, I generally send them off to that other site to get ideas and with almost 300 projects thus far, it’s a great way to get those ideas!
For instance, this project here which I showcased on CNCROi.com about a month ago actually has its origins thanks to a friend of mine who lists his creations over on CNCKing.com.
So, while I may be showcasing rather “simple” projects like live edge wood planks CNC laser engraved with custom words and pictures like this…
… or annealing custom Stainless Steel business cards to show you what we can do with our fiber laser tube…
… or even building 2D American Flag inspired acrylic signage using our CO2 laser source…
… there’s a whole other world out there of creative potential! For instance, even this Wooden Big Wheels which I designed and cut had its origin from CNCKing.com!
The origins of the 3D animations you see on CNCROi.com every once in a while also have their beginnings on that site and it’s the same technology we use to proof projects here for our clients before the first bit of material is cut. Haven done 3D animation for almost two decades has its advantages!
I guess you can tell that I really like Medieval stuff! Of course, that extends into siege weapons too and the reason is simple, the artists and engineers of today got their beginnings centuries ago from making these simple contraptions by hand using the most rudimentary of materials and understanding of physics. If it wasn’t for this inception of knowledge passed down generation to generation, the CNC laser I have now wouldn’t be possible!
Other than the general excuse that I’m busy with customer projects and the holidays, the other reason I haven’t been keeping-up with my goal of writing a new blog post with project every two to three days here on CNCROi.com was that I was busy rebuilding CNCKing.com from the ground up.
New engine, updating project and throughout the rest of the year, updating lots of these 3D animations with better render quality and resolution. It’s a lot of work but it’s a fantastic showcase as to what you get when you hire CNCROi.com to do a project for you.
Simple to complex, we can do it across a huge variety of materials, and now you know why! I had one customer blown away that I had a wooden name badge at a recent networking event, this one in fact.
Well, relatively speaking, that’s child’s play compared to most projects I do over at CNCKing.com! Where the vast majority of our projects at CNCROi.com are 2D, like the above custom wooden name badge, just about everything at CNCKing.com is 3D.
The complexity is endlessly more complex but it’s fun to dive back and forth between 2D and 3D design philosophies, not that one is simpler than the other, I just taught myself how to design optimally for each through the years.
What’s interesting, other than sharing the same meaning behind the company name (including domain), is that they now also share the same engine running both websites, with the only different being the main video provider. CNCROi.com is more the professional end of things in a way, where our customers want X and we design and build it while CNCKing.com is more the creative, where we help other shops make something neat.
It has been an incredibly productive year with both sites, and I look forward to sharing my passion, knowledge and desire to make awesome stuff for our clients around the world! It’s so much fun to be able to share all this stuff with you guys, I just wished I didn’t have to sleep so I could do MORE AND MORE of it!
So the next time you see me post a project like this, CO2 laser engraving a simple piece of wood using our Austrian wide-format industrial machine…
… keep in mind that we can just as easily do the same at a far larger scale in both materials and complexity using a totally different CNC machine…
… or using our top of the line Trotec Speedy 400 flexx laser…
… and also assemble it even if the scales and equipment are at opposite ends of the CNC spectrum.
This the kind of creative talent you get when you hire us for a project, the same thought that goes into these more complex projects also goes into things as simple as our custom welding tags.
Something to keep in mind as we keep on expand our capabilities across software and hardware for our clients who are, quite literally, all around the world! I’m extremely proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish for both sites and look forward to helping you out as well with your own projects in the new year.