[lrubin28]

I finally built my first machine - it's very basic, based off a Solsylva plan from years ago. Although I'd like to try making some parts very soon, one of the things I wanted to try first was to be able to score glass for some stuff I sell on the internet. Nothing fancy - just strips that are as close to parallel as I can get, and circles of different sizes, in bulk. I have a manual glass cutter that swivels 360 degrees, so I hope to mount this where most people mount the spindle. The controller I put together (kit) uses a parallel port. I don't have an older desktop with 32 bit Windows - I have either a Windows 10 laptop or desktop (64 bit only).

I don't have any software yet and I can't justify spending much unless really necessary. Given that initially I just want to be able to score glass using either straight lines or circles, and given that I'm new to this and I don't know how to use any CAD/CAM software yet, and given that I probably won't ever need anything too complex, could anyone please recommend software to me? The only similar software I've used is Sketch-up which I'm guessing is not great for this? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

Larry

[awerby]

That system isn't going to work, unless one of those computers has a working parallel port. So the first thing you need is an adapter that lets the computer communicate with the controller. There are several to choose from; the UC100 from cnc4pc.com and the Smoothstepper from Warp9td.com are popular around here. Then you'll need a control program that runs on your PC, like Mach3 or UCCNC. This turns the PC into a machine controller that can execute G-code; the commands that tell the machine how to move. For what you're talking about - just straight lines and circles, you probably don't need to use CAD/CAM;you can write the G-code by hand. Here's a basic guide to doing that: http://s3.cnccookbook.com/Downloads/...CodeCourse.pdf

A diamond cutter in a spring-loaded mount will probably work better for you than a wheel-type cutter jammed in the spindle: Spring Loaded Engraving Tool Engraves Flat, Curved, And Uneven Surfaces With A CNC Machine

[lrubin28]

Thanks for the info!

[vger]

Another option for the machine controller is LinuxCNC which is open source (free) and works quite well. I have used it on 4 different machines over the years...

[dazp1976]

Weighing it up, if not changing the PC I'd be drawn to using a UC400eth and UCCNC to control it.

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
my preference and what I use is Mach4 and an Ethernet SmoothStepper.

Having said that cheaper and simpler CNC software would be adequate for doing what you have described.

You might even look at GRBL....cheap and cheerful.

Craig