[thor44]

Hello

I am new to cnc and I have Linuxcnc installed and I am struggling to figure it out. Can anyone help? I know it is not very specific but I really dont know what to ask for at the moment. I dont have a cnc machine yet, I figured that I would start learning the software side while I am saving my pennies to buy the parts to build my cnc machine and hopefully by the time I get it I will know how to use it.I look forward to working with everyone and can't wait to get started.

Thanks

[doorknob]

Starting by learning LinuxCNC may not be the best choice for you.

Do you have any experience using CAD and CAM software? If not, perhaps that would be a better place to begin.

Design an object or two in a CAD package, feed the outputs into a CAM package to generate toolpaths and Gcode, put a little bit of effort into understanding the Gcode, maybe play with a CNC simulator software package, do some research into stepper motors and their drivers, study some DIY builds of CNC machines to better understand the way that the mechanical pieces work together, and then you will be ready for LinuxCNC which is the next piece in the puzzle.

[thor44]

Learning the CAD/CAM side of it sounds like a good idea, do you have any suggestions, I have now money so the free stuff is all I can afford at this time. I have played with google sketchup and DevCad both of which are free but I have not found a free CAM program to try. If you have any suggestion that would be great. I ran the stepconf in Linuxcnc and created "my mill" which has the dimension of the machine that I plan to build, so now that that is done is it set up and ready to go? and I am just making this more complicated than it needs to be?

Again thanks for the help

[doorknob]

Although I haven't used it, I believe that you can download and evaluate CamBam for free for a limited number of sessions, and they also have a completely free version which they discourage people from using (due to its age and because it contains old bugs that have since been corrected in the paid version), but either one of those options may be good for getting hands-on experience.

See CamBam CNC Software (and for the free version, scroll to the bottom of the page at CamBam CNC Software - Downloads).

[thor44]

I downloaded cambam but I am new to Linux and I dont know how to install cambam. Can you help me with the installation?

Thanks

[doorknob]

I haven't done it, so I'm not sure if I can help you, but I'm willing to give it a try. I might even be able to fire up one of my Linux boxes and try the installation myself, but that would take a bit of effort to get everything hooked up, so there might be some delay if I decide to do that.

Did you download the 32-bit .tgz file from CamBam reference library - CamBam on Linux? (assuming you're using a 32-bit Linux version)

Are you familiar with using the tar command to un-gzip and un-tar a file? I don't remember the switches to use on that command (maybe it is -xvf, but it would be better to look it up).

Are you running Ubuntu Linux? Which version?

Do you know how to run apt-get to download packages and their dependencies? Cambam under Linux requires various prerequisites that are listed on that page.