Paper Tools is like full self-driving for CNC. As fast and direct as your manual tools, you just measure and mark your material. A video camera “sees” your marks, then autopilots your CNC to find their precise position, with repeatability of +/- 0.002”. All the code to make your cuts is generated without touching CAD or CAM—using any tool on any material. Paper Tools works with your CNC router, mill, plasma, laser and more.

https://youtu.be/dCbrlCLzZ4U

Early Adoption

<aside> 🐣 Paper Tools is in early release. For free. Wanna try it? Go here.

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What Paper Tools Sees

With a video camera pointed at your material, Paper Tools navigates your CNC machine so you can cut parts wherever you print or draw a simple square target.

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The Person Interface

Hello, Person. You’re not a “user”, you’re a real live human being (I think). So I’d like to introduce you to our Person Interface.

In this view, the CNC machine is on auto-pilot heading towards a square printed on the piece of paper as seen by the camera. You can also see my “Demo” project showing the captured frame, coordinates, and labels. In each tab you can find other frames you’ve captured, Paper Tools to download and use, your Tool library, Materials and even Fixtures. Add any of these into your project and get cutting!

In this view, the CNC machine is on auto-pilot heading towards a square printed on the piece of paper as seen by the camera. You can also see my “Demo” project showing the captured frame, coordinates, and labels. In each tab you can find other frames you’ve captured, Paper Tools to download and use, your Tool library, Materials and even Fixtures. Add any of these into your project and get cutting!

Real-Life Example

“Please Oh Please, No More Hole Saws.”


With a video camera attached to your CNC machine and a Paper Tool, you can do simple things to get your CNC machine cutting your material in just a few minutes—so toss your hole saws and finally use your super-clean CNC for all your everyday work.

Like a hole saw kit, this bore Paper Tool has a variety of common hole sizes and depths each with a target, a visual representation of your result, and an instruction step that Paper Tools can read. I measure and mark my material like the good old days, with a caliper and a pen, then position the bore Paper Tool above my mark. Printing on tracing paper lets me see through it to line it up with my marked material. Paper Tools then navigates my CNC machine to precisely find the target under the camera. In just a few seconds I put a hole in a piece of material right where I want it using my nice precise CNC machine instead of a manual drill press and a crusty hole saw waggling all around making a jagged mess.

Like a hole saw kit, this bore Paper Tool has a variety of common hole sizes and depths each with a target, a visual representation of your result, and an instruction step that Paper Tools can read. I measure and mark my material like the good old days, with a caliper and a pen, then position the bore Paper Tool above my mark. Printing on tracing paper lets me see through it to line it up with my marked material. Paper Tools then navigates my CNC machine to precisely find the target under the camera. In just a few seconds I put a hole in a piece of material right where I want it using my nice precise CNC machine instead of a manual drill press and a crusty hole saw waggling all around making a jagged mess.

Let Your Robot Worry About “GCode”


CNC machines have incredible capabilities: a robot you control to do your bidding complete with a powerful cutting tool? Hell yeah! But they are hard to use: CAD, CAM, Toolpaths, GCode, Controller Software, G54, and so on.