# Built-in feature to mill a straight edge **URL:** \ **Category:** šŸ’” Suggestion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015 "2025-11-22T02:41:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/user_avatar/forum.sienci.com/chucky_ott/32/8692_2.png) [@Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/u/Chucky_ott)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/1 "2025-11-22T02:41:00Z")
The surfacing feature is great since it allows you to run a surfacing job without the need to use your CAM software. Another cool feature would be the ability to make a straight edge on your wood stock. So essentially, just a command to move the spindle in the x axis, the y axis, or both axes to get two perpendicular edges. Probably easy to do with macros but it would be a nice feature to have natively. ---
**Author:** ![Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/user_avatar/forum.sienci.com/chucky_ott/32/8692_2.png) [@Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/u/Chucky_ott)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/2 "2025-11-22T11:44:19Z")
I actually was dreaming about my Altmill and in the dream, I was using the surfacing feature with an input of 0 for the Y axis setting. So first thing I do after waking up is run to the shop and give it a try. Well guess what? It worksā€¦kinda. You do need to use the zig-zag pattern instead of spiral. And you need to flip the cut direction for a cut in the y direction. But with a 0 value for X or Y, the spindle will run in straight line. Unfortunately, you canā€™t square a piece in a single operation. ---
**Author:** ![NJacober](https://forum.sienci.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/b38774/32.png) [@NJacober](https://forum.sienci.com/u/NJacober)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/3 "2025-11-22T20:08:41Z")
I was recently thinking about this as well. I was considering getting a jointer. However, I donā€™t do a lot of work with hardwood that would require milling like that. Then I figured I would just use the CNC. I was going to draw up the cuts required but yeah something like the surfacing tool would be neat. Nic ---
**Author:** ![Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/user_avatar/forum.sienci.com/chucky_ott/32/8692_2.png) [@Chucky\_ott](https://forum.sienci.com/u/Chucky_ott)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2025, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/4 "2025-11-23T12:33:56Z")
@NJacober Iā€™ve been woodworking for 30+ years and although a jointer would have been great, I have always managed without one by using a router and/or a thickness planer. If I had the space, I likely would have gotten one. Of course, now that I have the CNC, I likely would never need a jointer, unless I needed to decrease my production costs. ---
**Author:** ![marcoose](https://forum.sienci.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@marcoose](https://forum.sienci.com/u/marcoose)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/5 "2025-12-09T01:53:25Z")
I think this is usually called a ā€œconversational milling wizardā€. I have a few of these as plugins in another Mach3 machine, and Tormach and other hobby/prosumer machines have similar. Itā€™s basically an extremely simple GCode generator for some typical operations like ā€˜cut a circleā€™, ā€˜slotā€™, etc. Itā€™s not all that unlike the probing tab or similar, so something a gSender hacker could take a look at. I havenā€™t gotten around to getting a gSender build environment running yet, but will keep it on my list šŸ˜… ![image](https://forum.sienci.com/uploads/default/original/2X/6/6b93fe5e87dab699e1a0c27332f5ce26cf98c6b2.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![KGN](https://forum.sienci.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@KGN](https://forum.sienci.com/u/KGN)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/6 "2026-09-01T18:30:28Z")
Weā€™re hoping plugins (and the example plugins that will ship with this) will cover this edge case. This is very close to our simple cam plugin available in Edge for testing. ---
**Author:** ![KGN](https://forum.sienci.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@KGN](https://forum.sienci.com/u/KGN)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/built-in-feature-to-mill-a-straight-edge/25015/7 "2026-09-01T18:30:31Z")