Hey fellas. I thought that once I had sourced and purchased the major parts of my project machine, I might be past the major head scratching part. I was obviously a fish outta water with a notion like this. I have seen a lot of software on here being recommended and have even downloaded som trial versions. The light bulb still ain't burnin. I haven't really got a clue what I actually need. A lot of it says this is all you need and then recommends the other stuff that you need. Okay. Just what do I need?
Here is the deal and perhaps ya'll can make a suggestion based on these needs.
I mainly want to cut out polycarbonate. 3/16" mainly. I first want to run a 90 degree v cutter, but not for cutting through, but nearly throgh. I want to make folds that I can then weld with solvent. I will cut the part from the sheet with a straight cutter later.
I have Flash. It is able to export DXF files. I would like to use windows XP on my laptop. I understand that I will have printer port issues using this, but I do have a wireless home network. I would install another small computer in the shop with a small cheap monitor. I have most of the parts for that already.
I did download Ace from a link provided from here. I think this may translate my DXF into G-code for me.
What do I need from this point on? I bought the Zylotex driver and three 270 oz steppers. I have a 24 volt 6 amp power supply and pretty big 24 volt fan for the drive box that I'll make myself.
If some other program already has this conversion tool included, I'd like to hear about that as well.
I don't want DOS or Linux suggestions. I have about $150 budget for software.
Thanks guys.