[abcmojave]

I am looking at Dolphin CAD/CAM to run my mill but would also like to be able to send the CAD work to my 3d printer to check things out prior to actually machining in metal. My 3d printer likes STL files but Dolphin CAD does not seem to be able to generate/export this type of file. Does anyone know a work-around for this?

Thanks in advance

[Dolphin USA]

Unfortunately, not a the moment...

[MBowers]

Depending on the output/export capabilities of Dolphin (I'm not real familiar with it), you might be able to import the model into Blender or MeshLab than resave it as a .stl. Hope this helps.

[abcmojave]

Thanks I will give that a look see. I really want a cad/cam package that will do what I want though. Some have told me Bob cad/cam is the way to go but I have not really looked at it yet. Too bad Dolphin won't do what I want; I like some of the features and the price is right.

[abcmojave]

So it looks like from Dolphin I can export as a dxf, import that into Blender, then turn around and save as (or export as) an STL to use for 3d printing. Does this sound right?

[MBowers]

Yes. There are other free programs out there that also convert to .stl. A google search for stl converter will bring up several of them. Dolphin looks like a decent program for the price, I wouldn't change just because it doesn't export .stl, just run through a file converter. Good luck.