CNC's are good if you are making tons of templates, making furniture, or working with a lot of sheet goods. They do take a lot of fun out of the job though, as the layout and initial cuts are usually the most enjoyable and you're left just gluing and sanding finished parts.
As a timber framer, most small to medium size shops don't use one because the upfront cost is astronomical. You need a 24' bed, 5-axis head, and probably an auto-loader because the boards can weigh up to 250 lbs. If you're cranking out identical kits and shipping them nation-wide it may make sense, but it takes a long time to get to that point. Most of my work is custom one-off projects, where it would take longer to program the tool paths and load / unload pieces than to just do them by hand with specific tools. We also use green rough-sawn wood that varies in dimensions by up to 3/16", so you'd have to probe every piece somewhat thoroughly.
As Inheritance Machining showed in his most recent video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sjsu1FPCk) it's totally possible to beat CNCs on speed alone the first time, but impossible when it comes to mass-producing. For the hobbyist woodworker doing one-off projects in their free time, I would also say it's better to enjoy the process manually.
As a timber framer, most small to medium size shops don't use one because the upfront cost is astronomical. You need a 24' bed, 5-axis head, and probably an auto-loader because the boards can weigh up to 250 lbs. If you're cranking out identical kits and shipping them nation-wide it may make sense, but it takes a long time to get to that point. Most of my work is custom one-off projects, where it would take longer to program the tool paths and load / unload pieces than to just do them by hand with specific tools. We also use green rough-sawn wood that varies in dimensions by up to 3/16", so you'd have to probe every piece somewhat thoroughly.
As Inheritance Machining showed in his most recent video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sjsu1FPCk) it's totally possible to beat CNCs on speed alone the first time, but impossible when it comes to mass-producing. For the hobbyist woodworker doing one-off projects in their free time, I would also say it's better to enjoy the process manually.