[jviss]

Newbie question:

I have Alibre CAM 2.0 Basic, which is the version of Visual Mill that is integrated into Alibre Design, and "free" with Alibre Design Expert.

I have just started the tutorials. Thinking ahead, I was wondering. Is there a "console," of sorts, for controlling a CNC mill directly, that is, not executing a program, but allowing one to move X, Y, Z, turn the spindle on and off, provide a DRO, etc.?

Is such a console normally provided with other CAM software? If not, what consoles are available?

Thanks,

jv

[steve123]

You are looking for "CNC control software". Here is a link that shows lots of them. The most popular package is Mach 3.
KCam, EMC2, Mach3, TurboCNC,and other CNC related software links.

[jviss]

Thanks! Duh, do I feel like a dummy! That's one of the reasons I started a thread asking for book recommendations. I really don't know what a complete system looks like.

Thanks,

jv