New to the CNC world

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

torahanjyuu

New User
Dan
Hello there. I'm brand-new to the CNC router world, as I just got my first CNC router about a month ago. I've played with it a little bit, but between work and assembling it (still not done - I have yet to build the wasteboard), I haven't had much time with it.

I'm still exploring different software options. Fortunately, the actual motion of the machine is handled by a microcontroller, so I only have to feet it the gcode to make it run. What sort of software do all of you guys use? What do you make on yours?
 
KenOfCary

KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
We have a couple of CNC users and builders on here so you should get some replies soon. Sorry but I'm not one of them, just been watching the technology closely. We borrowed a ShopBot from them for a project we did at WIA and the Klingspor Extravaganza last year and that project was very successful.
 
T

torahanjyuu

New User
Dan
It's one of the new X-Carves from Inventables. It's VERY light duty, meant for thin materials (like 2" max thickness). But what I love about it is that it's open source (they offer fully-dimensioned drawings for all of their parts), and it's meant to be tinkered with. This X-Carve will be the beginning for me, letting me play around, figure out what works, what doesn't work, and eventually use it to build the machine that I need.

So what do I need? What am I going to make on it? I have no idea! But I am very much looking forward to exploring and tinkering. :)
 
tri4sale

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
torahanjyuu said:
It's one of the new X-Carves from Inventables. It's VERY light duty, meant for thin materials (like 2" max thickness). But what I love about it is that it's open source (they offer fully-dimensioned drawings for all of their parts), and it's meant to be tinkered with. This X-Carve will be the beginning for me, letting me play around, figure out what works, what doesn't work, and eventually use it to build the machine that I need.

So what do I need? What am I going to make on it? I have no idea! But I am very much looking forward to exploring and tinkering. :)
Click to expand...


Congrats and welcome to the world of CNC where every day you realize you need to go pick up another router bit :) Feels like I've got more money invested in bits than all my other tools.

I run a ShopBot gantry (48x96) myself. I use Vectric Aspire 4 (they just released Aspire 8 (went from 4.5 to 8 and skipped all the numbers in between) for design. That's the only design software I am familiar with.

Good place to learn CNC is the Vectric and ShopBot forums (even if you don't run their software, you can learn alot)

http://www.talkshopbot.com/
http://forum.vectric.com/

I'm still learning and playing and tinkering with my machine, I don't think that will ever stop happening. Right now I am playing with some silhouettes and monograms, last year I built a Murphy bed with everything cut out on a CNC machine. Just cut out 100 gingerbread men for a friend for her to make some Christmas gifts.
 
K

kg5000

Kenny
User
Hi Dan,

I built a "MakeZBot" CNC machine about 16 months ago to start. It spec'd using a Dremel tool but I decided to mount my Porter Cable 690 router instead. This was a huge upgrade and allowed me to cut 1/2" and 3/4" wood. It had a cut area of about 11 inches by 17 inches. Last fall I decided to scale up the same design to a cut area of 54 inches by 54 inches and it takes up half my garage.

For control electronics I started with a crappy Chinese driver board attached to a Linux desktop PC running LinuxCNC software. I would get some good runs but got quite a few bad ones, too. I just received a SmoothieBoard 4-axis controller yesterday to replace BOTH the driver board and the controlling PC. This board is running the GRBL control software but does not require a "G-Code sender" computer to feed it G-Code data. You put the whole G-Code on the board's flash storage and send it a "play" command. I can't wait to get this set up on my system. It should completely turn around all my job quality issues.

For CAD/CAM software I mostly use CamBam http://www.cambam.info which is fantastic for 2D/2.5D work and is supposed to be good for 3D but I have no idea how yet. CamBam has a basic CAD package which allows accurate drawing of stuff. It also has DXF file import. Where CamBam has a fanatical user base is CAM/G-Code output. The app has a very intuitive way of setting up tool paths for G-Code and provides basic and advanced setting for all toolpaths that accomodate newbies like me and advanced commercial users as well. CamBam also has a very extensible plug-in and scripting interface which allows users to extend the application. There are dozens of user created plug-ins and scripts to do all kinds of excellent things. CamBam costs $150 but has an extremely generous trial period. Basically you have 40 "uses" of the tool with no limits. A use counts as starting the app. I had used 25 of my "uses" over a six month period doing many dozen projects before I finally was convinced to spend the money. The package is an excellent value with a huge user community and well worth it.

Ken
 
T

torahanjyuu

New User
Dan
That's a very nice system, Kenny! I will probably upgrade my system to something that can handle a router, but what I have right now is okay.

I'd heard of CamBam, but hadn't looked into it any. It looks like a nice program for the money, save for one little issue -- my computer is a Mac. So I have to add the cost of a new computer to the $150 for CamBam. :)

My current setup uses an Arduino and gshield running GRBL. I use my MacBook to send the gcode using Easel.com, ChiliPeppr, or Universal Gcode Sender (depending on my mood). I also use Easel.com to make my gcode, and sometimes I will use Makercam.com for gcode generation. I will probably settle on just one of those options once I figure out which one I like best.
 
K

kg5000

Kenny
User
Are you using a Dremel tool or trim router as a spindle? If you're running a Dremel, moving to at least a trim router like a Bosch Colt would be a huge improvement in performance. It will also make your setup a whole lot louder. It becomes a garage machine for sure once you take that step.

Can you run Boot Camp or some other Windows virtual machine environment on your Mac that will allow you run Windows software? Another option is CamBam has been ported to Linux. You could run a Linux virtual machine on your Mac using the free Oracle VirtualBox. You can download VirtualBox for MacOS here https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

ChilliPeppr looks like a great CNC control package. There is someone developing a ChilliPeppr interface to the SmoothieBoard. Hopefully I will be able to use it someday soon.
 
T

torahanjyuu

New User
Dan
kg5000 said:
Are you using a Dremel tool or trim router as a spindle? If you're running a Dremel, moving to at least a trim router like a Bosch Colt would be a huge improvement in performance. It will also make your setup a whole lot louder. It becomes a garage machine for sure once you take that step.
Click to expand...

The X-Carve comes with a 12-48V 300W quiet-cut spindle and a 1/8" collet. I bought a 1/4" collet, but it's just not large enough (or powerful enough) to use any 1/2" bits... This is fine for now, until I'm ready to upgrade to a trim router, or a full-sized router. Between then and now, though, there are a couple of things I can do to increase the power of what I have (increase voltage, purchase a larger spindle, etc).

kg5000 said:
Can you run Boot Camp or some other Windows virtual machine environment on your Mac that will allow you run Windows software? Another option is CamBam has been ported to Linux. You could run a Linux virtual machine on your Mac using the free Oracle VirtualBox. You can download VirtualBox for MacOS here https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Click to expand...

I knew that you could dual-boot into Linux, but I wasn't aware of the Linux virtual machine. Thanks -- I will definitely have to play with that.

kg5000 said:
ChilliPeppr looks like a great CNC control package. There is someone developing a ChilliPeppr interface to the SmoothieBoard. Hopefully I will be able to use it someday soon.
Click to expand...

I thoroughly enjoy using ChiliPeppr, but trying to get it to connect to my Arduino over USB serial is often a test in patience that I fail. It's very finicky, and I haven't figured out the trick yet. Once I do figure out the trick, though, I suspect that will become my main gcode sender.
 
J

jeff2103

New User
jeffnewatwood
I use mastercam and also ASPIRE. I think you should try the free trial of aspire. Its very good for art work. Plus you can copy about any picture on net and convert it into 3-d image.
 
jaustin

jaustin

john
Corporate Member
I built my own cnc mill. Going to eventually build a wood router but may end up buying the x carve.

I use cam bam to genertate my G code. Stuff I make is mainly drawn in Cam Bam. But do use Inkscape to produce .dxf files to import into cambam to do G code.


Been making and selling Carbide tools with mine.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top