What a 5-axis router actually does
A 3-axis CNC moves a cutter in X, Y and Z. It is excellent for flat panels and shallow relief, but every undercut needs a re-fixture, every compound curve needs a stepover that leaves visible facets, and every angled hole needs a jig.
A 5-axis router adds rotation around two further axes — typically the head tilts and the table rotates — so the cutter can approach the work from any direction. The piece stays clamped once. The geometry is continuous. The finish drops straight off the machine.
What that means for an artist
It means a maquette no longer has to be flattened to be reproduced. We scan or model the form, drive the toolpaths around it, and the result is the artwork — not a polygonal approximation of it.
- Compound-curve sculpture in tooling board, hardwood, foam and modelling clays
- Mould patterns for bronze, resin or GRP casting with no parting-line clean-up
- Architectural relief panels with deep undercuts in a single program
- Production runs of identical multiples with sub-millimetre repeatability
Why we chose ours
Our router has a 3 m bed, a 12 kW HSK spindle and a vacuum + mechanical clamping table. The bed length matters: most public-art commissions arrive in 2.4 m or larger sections. The spindle matters because the same machine has to cut tooling foam at 20 m/min and hog through aluminium tooling plate without slowing the studio down.
If you are an artist whose work has been compromised by what fabricators say they can't do, the first conversation is usually about geometry. Send the file. We'll tell you what the machine sees.