Upgrading to CNC - suggestions on software please
- Thread starter selkov
- Start date
I second Mr Vigus' opinion on cuecut and I like vectric for inlays though most seem to prefer Bobcad. Vectric is not as versatile as Bobcad but plenty sufficient for any 2d cue inlays and much easier to learn in my opinion and certainly more wallet friendly
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Coos Cues
Coos Cues
Have to make sure you understand you will need a program to execute the G code generated by whatever program you decide to use for design. Many choose Mach 3 or Mach 4.
You can write your own G code for tapering in wordpad pretty easily and it's not a bad idea to do so.
It will give you a solid foundation for understanding what's going on as you progress.
Vetric cut2d is a good place to start with inlays as it's cheap and clean. Again it will help you with a foundation for your next step. In fact depending on what you want to do it may be all you will ever need.
Better on NOTEPAD. Simple text and easily readable by Mach3.
Fusion360 with hsm works was free for students and small business. Has a great verifying software that allows you to see what it is actually cutting. Highlights the already cut area and the newly cut area.
Takes a bit to learn though.
Kelly was also doing some software for cuemaking. I have his balance and design program, but have not yet got his Cue cutting yet. I still have not got a 4th axis. I use the hsm works on my router and like it very much. The downside is that it requires internet all the time to use it, as it is cloud based, that side I find annoying.
Do try and learn what the gcode does and how it works.
Becomes very useful for simple things , and with NOTEPAD or basic text editor, the code can be typed in a few lines, and the header stuff can be copy and paste , as long as it is the right format for your machine etc.
Takes a bit to learn though.
Kelly was also doing some software for cuemaking. I have his balance and design program, but have not yet got his Cue cutting yet. I still have not got a 4th axis. I use the hsm works on my router and like it very much. The downside is that it requires internet all the time to use it, as it is cloud based, that side I find annoying.
Do try and learn what the gcode does and how it works.
Becomes very useful for simple things , and with NOTEPAD or basic text editor, the code can be typed in a few lines, and the header stuff can be copy and paste , as long as it is the right format for your machine etc.
Fusion 360 just changed their terms and now it's much less free than before. You are limited to just a few designs now. I use Inkscape to draw designs, Estlcam to convert that to gcode and Repetier-Host to send the gcode over the USB port. No Mach 3 here, I don't have any computers old enough to still have a parallel port. 
I use Fusion 360 with my Centroid Acorn controller and closed-loop stepper motors.Fusion 360 just changed their terms and now it's much less free than before. You are limited to just a few designs now. I use Inkscape to draw designs, Estlcam to convert that to gcode and Repetier-Host to send the gcode over the USB port. No Mach 3 here, I don't have any computers old enough to still have a parallel port.
It's true that AutoDesk recently made changes to the free/hobby version of Fusion 360 and that was because they discovered too many users were violating their terms and conditions and making too much money selling products created with their "hobby" version of Fusion. So what they did was to limit tool path to 3 axes, but 4 and 5 axis tool paths are not supported in the free/hobby version. They also limited the number of "active" projects to 10. All your other projects are archived and "inactive". An active project can contain multiple elements from those inactive projects, but you cannot edit them. To edit an inactive element or project, you must manually archive one of your active projects and activate the archived/inactive one that you need to edit. They figured hobbyists probably don't have many active projects going on, but business/pro users would and this was to slow down those users.
Also, the hobby/free version does not support fast moves aka "G00 X 5.00" for example. Again, this was implemented to slow down business/pro users and pressure them into buying the software. And finally, there are changes to the types of files you can import and export from Fusion 360.
So, the "paid subscription" version is currently discounted to $297 for the first year, or $801 for 3 years. Details from AutoDesk can be found here:
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/changes-to-fusion-360-for-personal-use/
Hope this clears things up a little.
Gary
Coos Cues
Coos Cues
Fusion 360 just changed their terms and now it's much less free than before. You are limited to just a few designs now. I use Inkscape to draw designs, Estlcam to convert that to gcode and Repetier-Host to send the gcode over the USB port. No Mach 3 here, I don't have any computers old enough to still have a parallel port.
I'm running mach 3 via usb on my router table with XP.
And yes I meant Notepad, I mis spoke