The Chopper Compendium

I've been practising with draftsight and would like to be able to create and run a simulated program to see a 3d rendering of the parts I make. Problem is I don't know shit about cnc. I was told I needed a CAM program to create the g-code and a cnc simulations program. I'm using a macbook and have searched for free programs but there are so many and I really don't know what I need. Any cnc gurus out there that can point me in the right direction?

I don't have a cnc but I would like to have any parts I come up with to be as close to plug and play as possible for the cnc shop.

Thanks,
Ken

http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cadcam.htm

Some good stuff here. I haven't downloaded any simulators, but got got a few for CAD and CAM.

No shop wants a plug and play program, cnc equipment is very expensive, that is why programers get big bucks.

I've been watching CAM since DOS. I downloaded to do a very specific conical surface. The roughing program was over 1meg in size. When the time comes, I'll spend a week and program it myself. I estimate it will only take 50k.

BIGJIM wrote:No shop wants a plug and play program, cnc equipment is very expensive, that is why programers get big bucks.

Im finding that the shops that have cnc equipment are not interested in small jobs. I sent the leafer files from the cd to a local shop with a water jet three weeks ago and the guy told me he would'nt even look at it and give me a quote until he had literally nothing else going on. He said if I were having 100 sets of yolks made, he would stop and look at it. I figured since it was already drawn, it would be quick easy money for them.

I "hope" Jim was just kidding about shops not wanting plug-n-play.

If your looking for waterjet, you may be able to get by with cnc-plasma cutters. Alot of fab/welding shops have them. They use them for one-off custom and short runs. The PlasmaCAM softwware will even accept scanned images.

Nope, I wouldn't trust anyone's program that I didn't hire on my equipment.
Anybody can make what appears to be a good program on a simulator, but it takes experience to choose the right sequencing and proper tooling to get the job done.

I agree with you completely regarding my own equipment. I've seen alot of shops startup with nothing but a dream and money to buy the toys. They swore up and down that it was working, but, I had my doubts.

The dream of any shop owner is to be able to buy software that will replace the big-buck programmers since there are not many of them, and they all want more bucks than they're worth...even me.

There must be a difference between making good parts and making money. If I ever figure that one out, I will be rich again.

rudog wrote:I "hope" Jim was just kidding about shops not wanting plug-n-play.

If your looking for waterjet, you may be able to get by with cnc-plasma cutters. Alot of fab/welding shops have them. They use them for one-off custom and short runs. The PlasmaCAM softwware will even accept scanned images.

the cnc plasma i use will take the dxf files right off the cd a good guy can set the speed and temp so you have minamil clean up

Here are a open source 3D modeling program to build the part in!!! FREE!!
Blender 3D Modeling software!!

http://www.blender.org/


Here is the Free open source add on that will transform the part to a G-code for you!! It will also simulate all tool motions and you can rotate the part to watch tooling in all angles!!
CAM Program for Blender

http://blendercam.blogspot.cz/



Yes I said FREE!
It works you will just need toknow what type of machine you plan on running part on because the G-code differs slightly!!
Easy to change with 3 clicks of a mouse if you want to run on a different machine!!

Here is a 2D Free open souce way of modeling and produces G-code!!!
Inkscape like a CAD program to build in with layers that can be associated with different tools and depths!!!

http://inkscape.org/


Here is the add on the produces the G-code.
G-codetools

http://www.cnc-club.ru/forum/viewtopic. ... 35&start=0


Yes is FREE and a lot easy to build in and no real need for more if only using a 3 axis machine!!

For the simulaton part you will need to download Linux a free open source operating system for control of driver unit of up to 9 axis CNC machines!!
Will operate CNC Mills and Lathes!!!


Linux
http://linuxcnc.org/



Yes I said FREE!!
Download your part program in here and you can simulate all steps or one at a time. If there is any error in code it will tell you!!!
You can rotate the part while doing to see action of tools and the the tool changes you will be asked to change the tool before preceding so may have tomanually enter tool change code in a these positions!!!

If you want a really easy way to cut a Cnc part or engrave a part then this FREE open source program will do it!!

You can engrave any thing from a pictur by converting to black and white making it a bitmap image and uploading it to it!! Also imports DXF files say from draftsight!!


F-Engrave!!

http://www.scorchworks.com/Fengrave/fengrave.html

Here is a list and links to all open source CAM programs that can be used!!!


http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Cam

This is a good 2D part generating software Free open source to cut parts on a 3 axis machine just upload DXF file!!
It will then create the G-code for you!!!


Ace Converter

http://www.dakeng.com/ace.html

This is another one!!


dxf2gcode

http://code.google.com/p/dxf2gcode/

Free!!!