I have not been on this forum in a long time, but I come here asking for help.
The Situation:
I'm currently in Army flight school about to finish Initial Entry Rotary Wing Training (IERW). It has been a long and very demanding journey getting to this point with a long way to go. Once finished with IERW we will find out what type of Helicopter will get to fly (Black hawk, Chinook, or Apache). In this final phase of training we have to make what is called hazard maps. It is a collection of 30 1:50,000 military maps folded into a book with power lines, air routes and towers hand drawn each map. It is an outdated practice not used in modern Army aviation and take 40-60 hours to complete. For those of you who are not familiar with Army flight school, you have no free time, you fly, go to academics, and study. There is very little time left over each day to spend with your family, yet alone 40-60 hours to spend hand drawing maps. This is where I need you help.
The solution:
CNC plotter
The Problem:
too many choices to choose from, limited budget, and limited time.
The task:
30 ~47.5mmx55mm maps
Multiple Colors (black,Red,Orange,Light Blue, Dark Blue, Magenta, Yellow, Green)
Simple lines, circles, and text. Doesn't need to be super accurate.
My idea:
I have access to the digital files of the maps. We cant print them as they have to be "hand" drawn on issued maps. So If I can load them into a program, trace the objects to be hand drawn and turn it into a cad file. Then put into a plotter, I could make the 30 map files and run them on a plotter saving 40 students every 2 weeks a ton of time on something they don't need to do.
What I need:
An easy to use 2D cam software
Easy to learn CAM
And something to control the CNC
A CNC plotter kit, that is easy to assemble.
Any ideas/suggestions/help would be really appreciated.