[Irishness]

Hello all,

Thank you in advance for the help. I'm brand new to CNC/CAM and am in the process of evaluating CAM packages and which CNC machine to buy. I was hoping to get some advice on what has worked for others.

My requirements are pretty simple. I have an artistic background and will be cnc milling pieces from 2d artwork (I work in vectors, so I could use either vectors or raster images). They're already in depth-map format and all I need to do is create the gcode from them and mill them. That said, some of the images could be fairly complex/intricate so I'm looking for a CAM package that can accommodate that.

I've played a bit with artCAM and it seems interesting. There is a lot of extra functionality there that I won't need (i.e. modifying or drawing vectors inside the tool). I also saw the EMC2 from Linux which is interesting.

Does anyone have any experience / advice with this? Any recommendations?

[daveCNCmachine]

I use emc2 to run the g code I downloaded artcam express 2013 demo which converts bmp to vector very nice...

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[daveCNCmachine]

But cam bam works good just leave the program open and the 40 uses will last a while...

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[Imperial.cnc]

Have you looked at Gibbs Cam and MasterCam? I have been looking at both and they seem very similar. Gibbs looks easier to use and maybe easier to program. But I like the Cad portion of Mastercam. Can anyone chime in on which one they like better?

[awerby]

While it may be possible to do these things with high-end programs like Gibbs and MasterCAM, I doubt the Original Poster wants to devote thousands of dollars and months of study to this when other alternatives are available that cost a lot less and are much simpler to learn. But the OP does sound a bit confused as to which programs do what. EMC2 is a program that allows your computer to function as a machine controller, but it's not a CAM program, which converts images or models to G-code. It sounds like a relatively simple CAM program would work, though - something like DeskProto, for instance, which handles both 2D vectors and 3D meshes, and produces G-code that can then be sent to a CNC control program like EMC2 or Mach3. We sell DeskProto to hobbyists for $300; Irishness would be lucky to get Gibbs or MasterCAM for ten times that price.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Mike 1948]

Take a look at the Vectric Products, it may have something to fit your bill. Cad and Cam: Vectric Ltd - Passionate About CNC
Plus it plays well with Mach3 machine control software.
You should be able to get setup for under $1000 total unless you want to got 2 1/2 D with Aspire. Download the trial versions and have fun.