# CNC or laser engraving onto curved surfaces

**URL:** <https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/cnc-or-laser-engraving-onto-curved-surfaces/20369>\
**Category:** Snapmaker2.0 Troubleshooting guides\
**Created:** [August 11, 2021, 7:19am UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/cnc-or-laser-engraving-onto-curved-surfaces/20369 "2021-08-11T07:19:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![brvdboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@brvdboss](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/brvdboss)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/cnc-or-laser-engraving-onto-curved-surfaces/20369/4 "2021-08-11T16:18:43Z")

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Is it technically possible? Sure, given you have the clearance and the module won’t bump into the object.  
Is it easy/out of the box? Not really. You also need a way to fix and/or rotate your workpiece and make sure you can position correctly. This could be a challenge on it’s own. Especially for pots that aren’t really cylindrical but have different diameters at top & bottom.

You might want to check these topics out too:

> [@Autoleveling and CNC journey](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/autoleveling-and-cnc-journey/5927/26):
>
> Hello everyone, (First, sorry in advance if I miss some rules related to posting here, it’s my first post.) Last week after reading this post I decide to work on this leveling problem. In the past I try to solve it with a waste board and a spring loaded bit but it didn’t solve it completely. Nevetheless, I wrote a code that still need to be fully tested (and maybe implemented on an Electron App), but here are the first results. (Unfortunatly as new user I can’t post multiples embedded picture…

> [@Laser engraving on cylinder e.g.water bottle](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/laser-engraving-on-cylinder-e-g-water-bottle/4708):
>
> A metal water bottle makes for a nice gift and even better if you can custom engrave something on it To get around the problem of engraving on a curved surface i had look at the Rotary attachment from mwhatch - [https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2784777](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2784777) - but then made something simpler to print. For those interested have a look at and for a video of it working see

> [@DIY Rotary Attachment](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/diy-rotary-attachment/16252):
>
> Here is my version 2 of the DIY rotary attachment. I’m happy with the results. grinning Here is the Instructable as well:

And as already mentioned, the rotary module.

edit:  
And I just remembered this one as well:

> **[Milling Curved Objects With A G-Code Ripper](https://hackaday.com/2014/07/31/milling-curved-objects-with-a-g-code-ripper/)**
>
> Milling and routing flat surfaces is pretty much the point of a CNC router, but how about curved surfaces? Auto leveling of hobby CNC machines and 3D printers is becoming commonplace, but Scorch Wo…

there the surface is first “probed” to make a 3d/2.5d map out of it and use that to transform the gcode. Similar to what @Marco did in the first topic I referenced.

So technically possible: yes. Easy? Probably not. But it could make for a really fun project 🙂

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