Hi guys
I'm not exactly new to the zone, but I usually hang out in the diy section. You might have seen my diy build and carving website at www.carveit.ca
I've been working on a more ambitious project along the same lines - basically a service similar to bigbluesaw or ponoko for 2d laser machining. I'm working on a number of process automation tools that I think will make it something unique, including a web-based cad tool and automatic nesting program.
the basic idea is to lower the barriers to entry, and allow people to make single-run parts for hobby and prototyping without incurring large overhead costs that a traditional shop would charge.
From the front end, this means a simple, easy to use cad interface that allows you to create parts without specialist cad software. From the back end there will be automated processes to nest parts on large sheet stock, avoiding setup overhead. The shop would simply download and run the vector/gcode files, print out a bunch of shipping labels, put them in boxes and send them off.
what do you guys think of the idea? Tell me if I'm being totally crazy :rainfro:
I'm still a couple of months away from finishing all the software, but would like to get a laser/waterjet/plasma(?) shop involved as early as possible so I can better understand what they need in such a service. If you happen to be a shop that's interested, feel free to PM me!
here's a sneak preview of my online cad tool: www.carveit.ca/partkart
its primarily designed to load/save svg files, and make simple parts through a custom sketch-recognition algorithm.