[Carl Fisher]

So I'm sure this is obviously a newbie question and I have done quite a bit of searching but not finding, or not understanding what I'm finding so far.

I have modeled something in sketchup and exported it to dxf. It's a really simple stepped cylinder with one end rounded off. It will be turned on a 4-axis cnc that I'm in the process of building. I'm trying to take the exported dxf and get it into working gcode that I can look at in something like Cutviewer or some other simulation to make sure I'm ready to go once I get the machine finished.

Any help connecting the dots would be appreciated. A decent tutorial or pointer to a software package that is user friendly for dealing with 4 axis milling.

Thanks!

[Carl Fisher]

Well, answering my own question.

so far DeskProto seems to get me the furthest of anything I have tried so far. Exported from Sketchup as an STL and imported into DeskProto using the wizard. Looks relatively correct.

Anything else I should watch for?

[jalessi]

Well, answering my own question.

so far DeskProto seems to get me the furthest of anything I have tried so far. Exported from Sketchup as an STL and imported into DeskProto using the wizard. Looks relatively correct.

Anything else I should watch for?

Carl,

You are on the right track.

There are many talented members on the Deskproto Forum that will give you very good direction.

Going to the source may be your best bet.

DeskProto >> support >> forum for DeskProto users

Welcome to the Zone,

Jeff...

[ger21]

I had just typed up that exact answer.

[Carl Fisher]

I've also downloaded and am playing around with DeskCNC. Very straight forward and so far is the first one to give me cut paths that look like they are ready to go right now. My only concern is if that company is still in business. I shot them an email to find out but their website is very dated and things like the copyright notice on the site stop at 2007.

I'll dig through the deskproto forums a bit. Seems like adding the 4th axis sends their pricing up over what I was hoping to spend though. I guess it depends on if it does everything I need.

Besides rotary milling, I also need engraving and good old 2/2.5 milling capabilities from the same software package.

[ger21]

The Hobby License for Deskproto is by far the cheapest 4th axis CAM option you'll find. There's really not any other 4 axis option out there without spending well over $1000. But DeskPRoto is primarily a 3D mesh CAM software.

MeshCAM does indexed 4th axis, but I don't know if that will work for you?

BobCAD is probably your next cheapest option, and the price for any other 4 axis software goes up rapidly after that.

[Carl Fisher]

Ahh, had not seen the hobby pricing. I only saw the main pricing on the product page which is in the neighborhood of $1400if I'm converting right to USD. $350 for the hobby license is much easier to swallow

[MichaelHenry]

The Hobby License for Deskproto is by far the cheapest 4th axis CAM option you'll find. There's really not any other 4 axis option out there without spending well over $1000. But DeskPRoto is primarily a 3D mesh CAM software.

SprutCAM does 4th/5th axis in one or more of its version for around $1,500, I believe and works IGES file formats as well as a few others and with direct integration to SolidWorks and a few other CAD programs.

Pricing is available here for those in the US:

SprutCAM America - Home

It can be a challenge to learn but there are now several tutorial videos available that lower the learning curve quite a bit.

Mike