Hey fellows,
I’m going to build my cnc machine, soon (most party already here/orderes, yeay!).
So I wonder which tool you guys do use.
I have a licence of CamBam, but I’m looking for something more professional.
Especially I’m interested in converting pictures to carves.
Guess vCarve Pro seems to be a nice tool for that - but it’s waaaaaay too expensive for a hobbyist.
I’d prefer to get a open-source toolchain for all my needs, as my machine will run on opensource software as well (linuxcnc / EMC²).
linuxcnc will interpret a grayscale as depth as a built-in fuction: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/2.4/html/gui_image-to-gcode.html
I’ve been using a combination of freecad for building objects, and pycam (which can be very frustrating) and HeeksCad/CAM for gcode. pycam is simple but incredibly slow at anything even slightly complicated, and makes extremely fragmented toolpaths sometimes. Heekscad is $ for windows but when I downloaded it was oddly free for linux, and its cam system, while conceptually somewhat odd, seemed to do a better job of both speed and path integrity than pycam.
note freecad has a cam workbench in it, but I have not yet gotten it to produce usable gcode, although it is under heavy development. It aims to be a one-program solution for a free/free cad/cam.
@Paul_Rudt Is it able to convert pictures (png, jpg) like vcarve to vectors?
Else I can’t see any advantages compared to CamBam.
fusion360 is neither freeware nor open source. And as it’s Autodesk-software (don’t blame them, they have good software, I like inventor as well as 3Ds Max) it will be really expensive, soon! (even at the moment it’s way too expensive for an hobbyist).
@John: Nice, didn’t know that. So how could I combine this with my model?
I’ve done some vector-work using Adobe Illustrator (as I have a licence) and CamBam. But that’s not suiteable if I want to create 3d images like bump mapping in computer games
@John_Bump I just downloaded FreeCad by today, but haven’t been using it - as I’m not in a rush as long as I didn’t finish my machine
+HobbyCNC that sounds like what I’m looking for. So I have to take a closer look to my CamBam licence
Do you have some keywoard or youtubevideos to get into it?
Just had a quick look on height-map /w CamBam on youtube - that’s what I was looking for
But nevertheless I’ll have a look into FreeCAD cam workbench.
Better to be prepared in two ways when my machine is finished
Hackaday is/has run a section called 3d printering. They covered a handful of ways to generate a 3d model with different programs. FreeCAD was covered.
There’s a freecad group on g+. @microelly and a couple of other people post updates on stuff they’re doing with it, and it’s impressive to see.
freecad has an almost overwhelming number of options. It’s definitely still a work in progress, but it’s done well for me for solid modeling.
@Mano_Biletsky_Open_M grbl I have used for my first, cheap CNC http://machine.But my new one will be more professional, that’s why I prefer linuxcnc.
But you’re talking about machine controller - I wonder how to prepare my files in a way I like
@Michael_Weber Do you know something that I don’t about Fusion 360 being expensive soon? I have been using it for free under their hobbyist license (<$100k in annual revenue.) Great product for both CAD and CAM. I just renewed for a second 12 month extension at $0. I know they could eventually take that away from me, but doing so would not put any money in their pocket either.
