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IndustryArena Forum > Other Machines > PCB milling > Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    4280

    Re: Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?

    Hi,
    no its not free but then neither is EAGLE.

    As it turns out Altium also make Circuitmaker which is absolutely free. It is cloud based and has no limitations like size.

    Storage is on the Cloud. While you can have private projects you are limited to two with the remainder being public.
    Altium Circutdesigner is next step. That price compares very favourably with the Pro version of EAGLE when it was offered
    as a perpetual license.

    When my internet connection refreshes I will download it and try it out.
    I missed out on getting EAGLE Pro because I didn't want to spend the money, I don't want to miss getting Crircuitdesigner if its as good
    as rumour makes it.

    Craig

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    4280

    Re: Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?

    Hi,
    I may have confused people, myself included. The name of the software is Circuit Studio.
    Altium make three versions of PCB software:
    1) Circuit Maker.....free cloud based
    2) Circuit Studio......cost about $500US, same interface as the free version Circuit Maker, but does not require an Internet connection
    3) Designer......the flagship of Altium, started out as Protel many years ago, costs about $8000US

    Craig

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    4280

    Re: Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?

    Hi,
    doing some more reading/researching.

    Once upon a time Orcad had a major share of the industrial market. It was bought out by Cadence. They stripped Orcad PCB layout out of
    Orcad, leaving the schematic capture modules, which remain good, and substituting a poor PCB layout module.

    Cadence make Allegro, probably the most sophisticated PCB program on the planet, its especially strong in RF design. The full blown
    package could cost $30k to $50k.

    Some years ago I used Orcad and while I found it difficult to use it was very powerful, simulation, schematic capture, PCB layout and manufacturing database
    in one package. At that time Orcad was about $10k. Reading the more recent stuff suggests that Cadence have stripped probably the best part out.....therefore
    there is no incentive for me to follow Orcad any more. Even the Allegro Lite version is $6k-$7k.

    The rumour is that Cadence is making a hostile bid for Mentor in which case Expedition could be under a cloud.

    As much as I dislike Autodesk's subscription model they have applied to EAGLE I would still go for Autodesk than Cadence.

    Altium have earned their share of complaints over the years, promoting Altium Designer and thereby killing off other programs. Altium CircuitMaker
    is a new departure, a free cloud based community software. The logical next step is CircuitStudio. With CircuitStudio they may have tapped into a
    new source of customers, dedicated amateurs and capital strapped businesses, and have priced it accordingly.
    If and/or when such customers become more financial they will step up to Altium Designer.
    I think this is Altium's way of growing their customer base and we, that is readers of this forum thread, stand to benefit.

    Craig

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    68

    Re: Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?

    I use easyeda.com and use the nightly build named "flatcam 2018".

    Regarding easyeda I've found that 1.6 x 2.5mm pads with .85 mm holes work very well for my .8mm ball end mill. I'm cutting traces at around 18k rpm and 300mm/m.

    It looks like most people are using an older version flatcam (8.4) which is from 2015. It appears to be actively developed and you are missing out on 3 years if you are using the old version.

    here is a recent build:

    and here is where they seem to be announced/discussed.

    https://muut.com/flatcam

  5. #25
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    13

    Re: Milling PCBs with free software... What's out at the moment?

    Hi fellows, my name is Jim, and I also use freeware software Eagle 9.2.4 and Pcb-Gcode.
    Everything was fine till I had to reinstall Windows 10, ever since it doesn't generate
    drill or mill files, only makes etch files without spot drill holes for etch files.
    Comes back with this error message "Improperly formatted rack entry" I made different
    drillrack files, but still same problem. No idea what did happened, and I hope some of you
    gentleman would able to help. Thanks for reading my post, any help wold be appreciated.

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