Maker Faire Milwaukee 2025
The Ant – Compact CNC for PCB & DIY Prototypes
Home: Varese, Italy
The Ant is a compact CNC machine designed to prototype printed circuit boards (PCBs) and create small parts in various materials, ideal for makers and personal projects. Easy to build, The Ant is a DIY project, featuring accessible hardware, electronics, and software. At the Milwaukee maker faire, we’ll showcase the unreleased second version of the machine, redesigned for even better performance. This new version builds on everything we learned during the development of the first one and incorporates valuable feedback from the small community that has grown around the project over the years. Small and precise, The Ant brings digital fabrication and prototyping within every maker’s reach.
Additional Project Photos
Maker
The Ant Team
The Ant Team is a group of passionate makers with a love for electronics, DIY, and hands-on projects. We enjoy experimenting, building, and having fun while creating electronic devices. Our main project is The Ant CNC, a compact and accessible CNC machine for makers. Driven by curiosity, we’re always eager to learn new things and share our journey with the community.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheAntPCBMakerWhat Inspired You to Make This?
We were inspired by the need for a simple, accessible tool to prototype PCBs and fabricate small parts right from our desks. As makers, we often found ourselves limited by the cost, size, or complexity of existing CNC machines, especially for quick experiments or personal projects. So we set out to build something compact, open, and maker-friendly. The idea behind The Ant was to create a CNC machine that anyone could build and use, with open-source software and electronics, and a design shaped by real-world feedback. It’s a tool we wanted for ourselves and now we’re excited to share it with the community.
