[arvidj]

I am a home hobbyist. After a lot of research I felt that the most reasonable long term "bang for the buck" investment I could make in CAD software was Rhino 3D. I have purchased version 5 and installed it. I'm now looking to fill in the CAM piece of the software chain.

Does anyone have any experience or feedback using an under $500 CAM software product with Rhino?

The output of the CAM will flow to Mach3 which will then flow to a KFlop\KAnalog which feeds a DMM Technologies AC servos.

Any low cost CAM experience or feedback would be appreciated.

Arvid

[Harpye]

For 2,5D I did my own Rhino scripted CAM ...

and for 3D I use RhinoCam2

[arvidj]

Thanks for the feedback. Regretfully RhinoCAM is a little too rich for my budget.

[Harpye]

If you want to go just 2D or 2,5D

RHino includes a Rhino related ( visual basic) derivative engine.

If you are used to visual basic ... try the following:


draw a spline.... create an offset line with half bit diameter offset ....
discretizise in equidistant segments shorter that the physical step width of your router.... store the points youget out of this command with a short header ... a comand line number and the proper g - code and feel well !

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xov9uQ8c90]Self Scripted Rhino Cam Module - YouTube[/ame]

[arvidj]

Thanks for the video.

[U2fletch]

Been using Rhino 4.0 for almost a year now and am very happy with the program. Needed a Nurbs capable package to do hull design.

For CAM I decided upon CAMBAM. I like the control it affords since 90% of what I make are 2.5d parts. But it is able to handle the 3-d surfaces I throw at it occasionally. Took me a bit of experimenting with stepover and scan strategies to produce a nice finish in a reasonable amount of time.

Jeff


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Treeline]

The basic MadCam might fit your need, and certainly not in the price range of RhinoCAM.

madcamcnc.com

[arvidj]

The basic MadCam might fit your need, and certainly not in the price range of RhinoCAM.

madcamcnc.com

Thanks for the recommendation. Regretfully at $750 it is a little rich for my hobbyist budget.

[arvidj]

I tried CAMBAM and MadCAM. I love the price of CAMBAM -- ~$150 ... but love the integration directly into Rhino of MadCAM.

Looking at it for the "long haul", I bit the bullet and ordered MadCAM. Significantly more than I wanted to spend but I decided that the integration and "one stop shop" flavor of it all would be the best solution for my needs. I am just starting out and learning a large number of software tools is not what I had in mind.

Thanks to those that provided input and suggestions. The insight was appreciated.

Arvid

[John Coloccia]

Hey, you just bought Rhino, right? Run, don't walk, to www.infiniteskills.com and buy the Rhino5 training bundle. Careful....there's a Rhino4 as well. I bought that by accident and had to repurchase for 5 (they were kind enough to refund me).

Also, why do you want to fiddle with Mach3? KMotionCNC is fine. It's doesn't have a fancy interface and doesn't have all of the features of Mach3, but it's free and so far it's been extremely reliable and is very good where it counts: the trajectory planner. You can always add Mach3 later on if you really want to, and I had planned on dong that, but after using it for a while now I have no plans to replace it.

[arvidj]

John,

Thanks for the training bundle suggestion. I ordered the DVD's earlier today.

When I purchased MadCAM I had also made the decision to not use Mach3 and just go with KMotionCNC. The current items that I have on hand are Rhino 5 -> MadCAM -> KMotionCNC -> KFlop\KAnalog -> DMMTech Drives -> DMMTech Servos. I also have the mill. What is missing at this point is the ball screws and all of the associated fixtures to mate them to the mill and of course the Round-To-It to make it all happen.

Arvid

[Tafhmmy]

The insight was appreciated.
http://flash.eviziotvreviews.com/11.jpg
http://flash.eviziotvreviews.com/12.jpg
http://www.usa-nfl-houstontexans.info/15.jpg
http://www.usa-nfl-houstontexans.info/12.jpg

[somewhereinla]

I use Rhino and SW for modeling and Deskproto for cam. So far so good. and great customer service.