[Delorean14]

I have decided to build my own smaller sized CNC machine for PCB's and small 3D jobs of various sorts. I was well into my build when I found out about this site. I'm sure there are great designs on here for different CNC machines but I have decided to design my own. When I say design I basically mean build on the fly. I have no blueprints, drawings or detailed designs. I have had a basic picture of what I wanted it to look like in my head and started building. I really have no idea what I'm doing but it seems to be going fairly well. Anyway I am decently far into the build and am going to post pictures of it up here to get people who actually know what they are doing's opinions. I will say that I am not going for speed but precision. So far the only issue that I am having is a slight leveling issue, about 1mm. The X-stage is completely done and I am working on mounting the motor for the Y-stage. I am limiting myself to materials from the local hardware stores. Ok, I'm done rambling.

[Delorean14]

Video progress so far:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

[Delorean14]

I would, however, like to know what software is readily available for a hobbyist like me. I prefer something free or something very inexpensive. I plan on running the CNC off of a parallel ExpressCard on my laptop.

[sirkossorg]

Your journey (and attitude) sounds a lot like mine. I look forward to watching your progress. Though your machine looks completely different from mine, your approach sounds familiar.

As far as free software, you might try CNC4Free. You will find that there is free software out there to do whatever you need. Unfortunately, the learning curve is rather steep, and it really helps to have a graphic art background, which I do not.

For controlling your machine, I think Mach3 is great. For the $150 or so, you get the control software plus LazyCam, which I have had great success with when it comes to cutting or engraving. For doing reliefs, I use MeshCam, but a lot of people swear by VCarve Pro. Most packages offer free demos, so you can see which works for you.

Good luck. Don't give up.

[Delorean14]

Thanks sirkossorg! Do you have a thread with pics of your machine on this site? I'd love to take a look. I do not have a graphical art background but I am familiar with CAD. My question is this: Do you draw something in the program and it translates it to code for the CNC? I have a program called Ultiboard that I use to design circuit boards and traces for said boards? Would I be able to import a design schematic from this program and import it into the cutting software? Sorry if this is all noob stuff. I am a noob and have decided not to mess around and distract myself with the software aspect until I have the machine finished.

[sirkossorg]

I was close to done with my machine when I found the Zone, so there is no build thread. Frankly, with the quality of build threads I've seen, I probably wouldn't have started one anyway. It would have been all over the place, since I really didn't know what I was doing. It looks nothing like I envisioned, but it works really well. All the Christmas gifts I gave out this year came from my machine.

As for the software, I suppose there are many ways to the same place. For engraving/cutting, I just import or create pictures that I clean up and simplify with CorelDraw. Then I use a free vectorization program called HyCad to create the DXF file that LazyCam can use. After setting scale, depths and chain orders, LazyCam can create the gcode for Mach3 to run on the machine.

There are software packages that make these processes very simple. I'm a bit of a cheapskate, so I usually try to find ways around stuff. If I was better with graphics and animation, I'd use the CNC4Free tools.

[CarveOne]

I would, however, like to know what software is readily available for a hobbyist like me. I prefer something free or something very inexpensive. I plan on running the CNC off of a parallel ExpressCard on my laptop.

Mach3 is now $175 but a few places still sell licenses with orders for $150. Free trial has a gcode limit of 500 lines of code. It will let you cut simple shapes but not much else.

EMC2 is the open source alternative (Ubuntu Linux) and you can download a CD image file from linuxcnc.org for free and run it from the CD before you install it. I use both, but have leaned more toward Mach3 and purchased it. They both have their good points. It will install a special version of Ubuntu Linux with realtime kernel on your laptop in a dual boot configuration. EMC2 does not run with any other Linux distribution or Ubuntu from the Ubuntu site.

Try CamBam Pro beta for generating gcode. Free, with 40 trials and no time limit.

The laptop parallel ExpressCard may not have the full TTL logic 5v level signals needed for CNC. Try it and see.

CarveOne

[Delorean14]

EMC2 is the open source alternative (Ubuntu Linux) and you can download a CD image file from linuxcnc.org for free and run it from the CD before you install it. I use both, but have leaned more toward Mach3 and purchased it. They both have their good points. It will install a special version of Ubuntu Linux with realtime kernel on your laptop in a dual boot configuration. EMC2 does not run with any other Linux distribution or Ubuntu from the Ubuntu site.

Try CamBam Pro beta for generating gcode. Free, with 40 trials and no time limit.

The laptop parallel ExpressCard may not have the full TTL logic 5v level signals needed for CNC. Try it and see.

Thanks, but um, what?

I'm gathering I should just buy Mach3...

[sirkossorg]

Thanks, but um, what?

I'm gathering I should just buy Mach3...

Like most things, the answer is "it depends". You said you wanted free to cheap, and carveone gave you the best answer within that framework. If you're not comfortable messing with your operating system and you want to stay with Windows XP, then Mach3 may be the way to go.

As for the 5V laptop thing, he is also right. I had that problem, and the breakout board I built had to step up the 3.3V coming from my laptop parallel port to 5V so my drivers would work. For the price of the parts, you can buy a a nice breakout board to do the same thing.

[CarveOne]

Thanks, but um, what?

I'm gathering I should just buy Mach3...

Many of us started our first CNC builds with EMC2 to keep the software costs down. I did, because I have dabbled with Linux for many years. If you have no knowledge of, or interest in, free Linux based software then this path is not for you. EMC2 and Mach3 are similar in some respects and very different in other respects. These are the top two in popularity for "low to no cost" but there are a few others, like TurboCNC for DOS. Anything else will cost $1,000 and much higher. Many people still use EMC2 as a personal choice, and they have good reasons to do that.

Many of us eventually moved to Mach3 for the features it has and the way it can be customized. In case you don't know, LazyCam is provided with Mach3 in the free beta and in the licensed version and is a gcode generator. It is no longer updated and there is no active support from ArtSoft for it. I used CamBam beta for gcode generation instead, after having stability problems with LazyCam. Gcode that is developed in a Windows application will run in EMC2.

There are enough free software options to get your machine running and do some useful projects with it but eventually you will want better software, and most of it will need to run on Windows. As far as I know there is not much available for OSX but I think that may be changing a little at a time.

CarveOne

[Delorean14]

Here is a screen capture of the Mach 3 driver test on the Windows XP virtual PC running INSIDE Windows 7 64 bit. These are the only two screens that it brings up.

This is a screen capture of the Device Managers in both the Windows 7 host computer as well as the Windows XP Virtual PC. Notice there is no "Ports" option in the Windows 7 machine and I do have my parallel port ExpressCard installed when these were taken. In the Windows XP Virtual PC there *is* a "Ports" option and a parallel LP1 option however nothing happens when in take out or install the ExpressCard. This. Is. Driving. Me. CRAZY.

[Delorean14]

Here are the Virtual PC settings. You will notice there is no parallel port available to the Virtual PC from the Host PC. I'm pretty sure this means my Express Card isn't properly installed on my laptop... Once I get this stuff ironed out it should work!

[Delorean14]

Here is an updated screen capture. Look better?

[brtech]

Mach3 will run directly on Windows 7. Using virtual XP windows will likely not work. Mach depends on a parallel port driver it loads that does accurate timing while it wiggles the parallel port pins. Trying to do that under emulation probably won't work and it might seem to work and then fail some hard to diagnose way.

Just load Mach on Windows 7. I'm running it that way just fine. I had a bit of an issue with the load, and got some help from the Mach forum. Look for W7 threads there.

While people have gotten Mach to work on a laptop, it takes a bunch of configuration to make sure the system doesn't start to power save while it runs. The 3.3V problem also hits some people. Some controllers work with the 3.3V levels just fine, others don't.

[adprinter]

sirkossorg, I too use Corel Draw to create the artwork. I notice you mentioned using something called Hycad to create the DXF files. I just thought that I would mention, that while CorelDraw can export DXF files - well, I am sure you know that they just aren't usable. However, I have learned that by exporting the selected artwork from CorelDraw as a HPGL *.plt file, the scale is preserved acurately. Then, launch LazyCAM and use the Open Vector file, which will be set to DXF be default, just click on the DXF to open a window of other file formats supported, scroll down to select HPGL.PLT file, and it will import directly into LazyCAM (effectively eliminating the HyCad step you are doing now).

[bobsch]

I've had good luck using CorelDraw if I change the export version to AutoCAD R14.

[sirkossorg]

I've had good luck using CorelDraw if I change the export version to AutoCAD R14.

This is good info. I will try both yours and adprinter's advice when I get a chance (life is in the way of my hobbies right now).

I'm hoping for an update on this build soon. Hopefully the computer/port issue has been solved?

Chris

[Marti]

I like what you did with the rollers and brackets. I went to Lowes the other day and tried to fit some rollers in u-channel and l-brackets, but couldn't figure out how to avoid the screws rubbing or how to mount the screws so I gave up and decided I'd try the drawer slides.