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i am new to cnc.
what do i need to get my router to cut the drawings i made in autocad?
currently i am working on designing and building a cnc router to cut inlays in wood. i know that i need a program to convert to g-code and then a program that tells my router to move.
what are some good easy and autocad compatible programs to use?
what are some of you (experts) using?:)
Hi Ljoe1969,
AFAIK, there is nothing special about a 2d Autocad drawing. Any cadcam program can make use of lines and arcs drawn in Autocad to create a gcoded program.
Having said that, there are many factors that come into play, because the variety of tasks that we invent for our machines to do is almost limitless. This creates complexity, and nothing is ever as simple as it looks on the surface.
Take your typical drawing of a part just laid out in Autocad, or wherever. Unless you have a zero-width tool, your drawing is useless for machining with, because the tool is required to follow the lines you have drawn, at a fixed distance, on one side or the other. Yet this fixed distance is variable, depending on your choice of cutter diameter.
That cutter choice cannot simply be any size you dream of, either. Total depth of cut, amount of material to remove, corner radii,, etc, can force you to sometimes use cutters that are longer or shorter , bigger or smaller than what you have used at other times.
The cutter choice itself then forces certain constraints on you about how deep you can go per pass, etc. Your Autocad drawing has no information about the Z axis movements of your tool.
Your Autocad drawing also contains no information about the roughing stage, where the tool has to clear away excess stock that is not near enough to the profile to be cut away in one pass with the tool.
So unless you are cutting narrow kerf with a laser or waterjet, there is really very little accomplished by having only the bare Autocad drawing ready. A simple conversion of the part outline to gcode gets you nowhere.
There, now you are caught right up with the rest of us, or else we wouldn't be on a site with zillions of banner ads for different cadcam systems :D
Have you run any demo software yet to get a feel for what is offered, versus what you want to pay? How much work will you be doing? Are you going to try to make money using your router?
I was once a newbie in your exact predicament. I'll tell you what I chose, and hope it gives you some insight.
First, CAD. You've got it covered.
Second, CAM: My best recommendation is to first learn how to manually program G-Code. This is an invaluable tool when debugging problems. It'll take you less than 1 week to become proficient at it. AutoCAD has a wonderful feature called "offset" that is awesome for manual machining. Just draw the path you want cut, then offset it by your cutter radius. Amazing!
Once your proficient with G-Code, and can program linear and circular interpolation by hand, you're ready to look at CAM software that makes this process easier for difficult shapes. There's a HUGE amount of information in the software section of this sight, and you're just going to have to look around and see what meets your needs.
Finally, the software that controls your CNC. I recommend TurboCNC. It's a great little DOS program! There's also EMC Linux, which I've heard is very powerful as well, although I've personally never used it.
When looking @ software, some of them have the CAD/CAM/CNC software all bundled together, which can save you significant amounts if you need all three. Again, this all depends on what you're doing and how much you're willing to spend.
Good Luck!
Edit: I was retarded. Said TurboCAD when I meant TurboCNC... (goes and gives self wedgie)(wedge)
Go t o
http://www.dakeng.com
Download Ace converter to convert you're AutoCAD .dxf's to G-code, and TurboCNC to run you're machine.
As was already mentioned, learn G-code so you can make sure Ace is creating the correct G-code based on you're drawing. You may have to change the way you draw to create the proper G-code. (No polylines, for example). Once you understand how it works, It's really quite simple.
Gerry
thanks for the replies
Does anyone know of a lisp program that will turn AutoCad into a backplotter?
I've been working on a .lsp program to read a gcode file into Autocad.
I have it working on the gcode files I have tried.
I can send you the .fas (compiled lisp). Send me a PM with your email, or write me at [email protected]
Also, if you want to generate the gcode file from within Autocad, take a look at Tahlcam. (tahlcam.com)
Bill
Autocad and CNC
I have a question whether the Autocad drawing should be to scale.
I am pretty sure it should be but just double checking
Thanks
:drowning: - I wanted to delete this post. did not find an easy way pls ignore
The Autocad file needs to be to 1:1 scale for CNC machining, correct ?
This might be an obvious answer but just double checking
Yes.
Imo, all drawings should be done in 1:1 scale, and scaled in Viewports if need be.
No expert but I get by and here is what I did.
1) Autocad for the drawing because I already had it. Save the file as a .DXF
2) I skipped the part about learning to program Gcode by hand unless you are into that. As I have progressed I figure out what I need as I go along.
3) I downloaded a few cam software programs and ended up buying CamBam. Open your .DXF file in CamBam and start to program your tool paths.
4) Produce your Gcode from CamBam.
5) Take your Gcode file to Mach3 and try it out.
I would suggest cutting something cheap and soft (foam board) to get started.
Not sure if this thread us still active.. but I sure could use some advice.
I am just now getting into this CNC stuff..
I am getting ready to convert my x2 to CNC..
I would like to mill some 80% lowers from a DWG.
I downloaded a DWG file
Here us the link:
AR-15 CAD Files
The file is in DWG format...
I can open it in A9CAD... but it has multiple drawings on it not sure how to pick just what I want cut and how to send it ultimately to MACH 3...
Any help to get me started would be greatly appreciated. ..
Thanks
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