Company / About

About NS CNC

NS CNC designs and manufactures precision desktop CNC machines in Surrey, BC, near Vancouver. We started in jewelry. We stayed because the work demands it.

Seventeen machines across roughly 25 years, with two more on the way, all designed and built in one place - now running in research labs, production shops, and jewelry studios on multiple continents.

Explore machines Request a Quote

An NS CNC machine running on its stand at the NS CNC trade show booth

Story / Origins

From a Basement Workshop to NS CNC

The story behind the machines.

An artist with an engineer’s training

NS CNC began in the 1990s with an unusual combination: artistic talent, an engineering background, and a practical problem that needed solving.

Jewelry design was still a hands-on craft. Pieces were drawn by hand, and the wax models used for casting were carved by hand too, by skilled craftsmen working to a tolerance they could feel rather than measure.

A digital model with nowhere to go

Early 3D modeling software changed that. For the first time a jeweler could build a detailed ring on a computer, turn it, and revise it before touching a piece of wax.

It also created a new problem. A design on a screen still had to become a physical model, accurate enough to cast from, and nothing on the market could make that translation at the scale and precision jewelry demands.

The first machine, built in a basement

So he built one. Working in his basement, he designed and assembled a compact 4-axis desktop CNC machine for one job: milling jewelry wax.

It worked. A digital design went in and a precise wax model came out, and the machine quickly became indispensable to his own jewelry work.

One machine became three

As orders grew he built a second machine, then a third, each one carrying the improvements learned from the last. They became more precise, more reliable, and better matched to what jewelry manufacturing actually asks of a machine.

Other jewelers noticed - first the quality of the wax models, then the machines behind them. They began asking whether something similar could be built for their own workshops.

From a workshop to a manufacturer

The first machine was built to order. Then another, and another. What had started as a personal engineering project turned into a manufacturing business, with machines leaving the workshop and, before long, leaving Canada for customers abroad.

Demand kept growing until building machines outgrew the jewelry work that had prompted them. A company was founded and incorporated, becoming what is now NS CNC. The workshop expanded, more manufacturing equipment arrived, and the machines started appearing at industry trade shows.

Beyond jewelry

Jewelers remained a core part of the customer base, but interest spread well past that trade. Companies and research organizations in other fields began ordering machines for increasingly specialized work, and NS CNC built machines to meet those requirements.

What began with one engineer-artist building a small CNC machine in a basement is now a specialist manufacturer with customers around the world. The original idea has not changed: combine engineering precision with practical machining to build compact machines that produce exceptionally detailed parts.

A desktop 4-axis milling machine cutting green jewelry wax beside a jeweler's bench and microscope

A vertical machining center milling a part held in a Kurt vise, chips and coolant spraying

The NS CNC team demonstrating a machine on their trade show stand

The NS CNC machine shop floor: mills and a lathe alongside benches of machined parts

Where / In-House

Large CNC machines build small ones

We are often asked where NSCNC machines are manufactured - overseas? The answer is no. NSCNC machines are designed and manufactured in-house at our own facility in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Everything begins with an idea, a technical concept, or a specific customer requirement. From the initial design and hand-drawn sketches to machining, assembly, calibration, testing, and final preparation for shipment, we handle the entire process ourselves.

Our facility is equipped with several large CNC machines and a wide range of specialized equipment. This allows us to maintain direct control over manufacturing, make design changes quickly, and produce both standard and customized machines without relying on outside contractors.

A row of Mira 6S machines on the assembly benches in the NS CNC shop

Story / The Name

Why "Mira"?

In 2009, the first 5-axis machine was ready to ship and needed a name. Technical descriptors, acronyms, and power words were all considered and rejected. The machine wasn't a statement of power. It was a tool for making something beautiful.

Named for a star, not a spec.

The name is short for "miraculous" - the reaction the first machine drew from jewelers who had only ever carved wax by hand. Miraculous → Mira.

It is also a variable star in the constellation Cetus. The overlap was a coincidence, but not an unwelcome one.

Customers around the world have since given their machines their own names - Miranda, Mirochka, Miroslava, Maria, Meir. We consider that the best possible feedback.

An NS CNC van with a crated machine loaded for delivery

Support / Expertise

More Than a Machine

When you purchase an NS CNC machine, you gain more than a high-precision machine - you gain access to our years of hands-on CNC experience.

New to CNC or unsure about the right milling parameters? No problem. We can help you choose appropriate cutting tools, spindle speeds, feed rates, stepovers, and other parameters for your application.

We have worked with a wide range of materials and machining applications, and we are always happy to share our experience with our customers.