Hello,
I'm currently a student at my local university and I'm trying to get a my hobbyist CNC setup going in my garage. Around January I bought a machine made by blurrycustoms.com and it seems to be a well built machine for my first machine. It has taken me a long time to get everything set-up as I'm short on time and money (working part/full-time and attending classes). I still have a few things that I needed to do with my machine before I am satisfied and gear towards making stuff with it. I.E. I need linear rail/ballscrew covers, set-up a dust collection system and build a case to encase the machine to minimize the amount of dust that gets everywhere. So I'm not in a big hurry to as far as software goes, however I'm starting to really look into what I'll be needing so I know what to buy/use when I am. I am hoping to be able to use my machine to make a variety of different things such as: an electric guitar body, xbox 360 laptop case, lithographs, small signs, perhaps even some simple circuit boards, etc...
Currently I have access to a computer lab that has Solidworks 2010 and I'm becoming familiar with the use of this CAD program. Even though my skills are very amateurish at best I feel very comfortable with Solidworks. I will be taking an engineering class next semester that will definitely be using CAD software of some sort hopefully Solidworks, however I do not know if it will go over any of the CAM software. I have downloaded a few trial versions of a few CAM programs and I am finding that I really have NO IDEA what I am doing with any of the CAM software. So finally here are my questions:
1. What makes those expensive CAM programs so expensive? What advantages to they have over their cheaper counterparts?
2. What is 2.5D? I understand the difference between 2D and 3D, but what constitutes 2.5D as far as CAM programs go? Why not simply be 3D?
3. Are their any programs out there that can work natively with Solidworks part files?(not integrated into Solidworks because I can't modify the computers in the computer lab) Or is working with dxf files the "way to go"?
4. When I import a DXF file ( or any file) into a CAM program what is the common procedure to produce the G-Code I need for Mach 3? I mean what is the Flow chart? Import -> create toolpaths -> output G-code?
5. I have been looking at different CAM options, in particular CamBam and vectric's cut2D + cut3D + photoVcarve. Would these options suite me well assuming that most of the CAD work I would do would be in Solidworks (except the lithographs with photoVcarve)? Are they any others that I should consider assuming that I don't want to go over $1000?
6. Are there any limits to what these CAM programs(especially the ones I am considering) can do as far as generating G-code? I mean could they make G-Code for any model that I could create in Solidworks assuming that my 3-axis machine could physically cut it out? (I mean not a "physical" impossibility more a "that object is too complicated to create the said G-code for.)
7. What is the best way to learn these CAM programs? I really have no idea what I'm doing or how to create the G-code.
Thanks for your time reading my post and any advice you can offer me, even if you aren't answering any of my questions. I would really appreciate anything you can offer me.