[HalfRhoVSquared]

How similar are Freemill and VisualMill? If I learn the free one first will VisualMill be very similar with just added options?

[ger21]

Freemill is probably 1% of Visualmill.
And there's really nothing to learn in Freemill, as there aren't really any options.
You load your model, select your tool, and export your g-code. Also, I think Freemill is about 10 years old.
I don't think you'll find much similarity at all.

[DareBee]

Visualmill has demo you can download.

[louieatienza]

Freemill is a one trick pony. A good one, but extremely limited. If all you do are stl relief files, it may be fine, but if you want to do any geometry-based machining, well there are other free stuff.

VisualMill is capable of so much more there's really no comparison.

[d.miller]

Freemill is a one trick pony. A good one, but extremely limited. If all you do are stl relief files, it may be fine, but if you want to do any geometry-based machining, well there are other free stuff.

louieatienza, what other free software would you recommend?

[victorofga]

free mill is a cool stuff.. its import directly solid from rhino..
and of course stl too..

it makes not that known jaggy toolpath.. it works directly of the meshmodel..

but it is free so we cant complain it has no features.. if there are projects you can run in one pass, then it works very well..

possible works same way than that 1 percent of visualmill.

[louieatienza]

louieatienza, what other free software would you recommend?

Having demoed a few, it's tough to recommed a CAM. It depends on what kind of work you're doing. For 2.5D work, you might be fine with PhlatScript, a plugin for SketchUp. For 3D and multi-axis work, CNC Toolkit is very powerful though the learning curve may be high. You might want to look into HeeksCNC as well. But my experiences have been that free software usually come with more tradeoffs or compromises, and you'll have to decide whether you can live with them.