[kdoney]

I like the close association that Visualmill has to Rhino but I don't have that kind of money. Any suggestions?

[Laff Riot]

Your welcome to join me on my 5 day pilgrimage as I stand outside VisualMill HQ with my "Will wash dishes for VisualMill" cardboard sign.

[speedracer]

have you looked into any of these?


http://www2.rhino3d.com/resources/de...ry=6&language=



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[HuFlungDung]

Originally posted by Laff Riot
Your welcome to join me on my 5 day pilgrimage as I stand outside VisualMill HQ with my "Will wash dishes for VisualMill" cardboard sign.

LoL!

[Dan B]

I'm afraid if you don't have the money for VisualMill, your options for other CAM systems are going to be limited. I'm sure there are some cheaper ones out there, but generally CAM software is expensive.

Depending on what you need it for, it is possible to write your own in Visual Basic that works right in Rhino. That is what I have done for CNC drilling, reaming, tapping etc. I know some others have done something like that for engraving. It's just a matter of working with arrays and writing XYZ locations to a text file using FSO. Of course, there's more to it than that, but that's the basic principal. My drilling program is about 4500 line long!!

Good luck on your search.

Dan

[cbcnc]

Have you tried that program "Freemill"? It is by the VM people I think.

Chris

[HuFlungDung]

Kdoney,

What are your CAM needs, besides the low price?

There's lots to consider, but we'd need a rough idea of what kind of work you are planning to take on, in order to give you informed advice.

Do you have a real appetite for CAD work, and do you feel proficient in computer use?

If it is simple stuff, you can't go too far wrong with Bobcad 17. In spite of the recent flak Bobcad has been getting, it is still worth the extremely low price they are currently asking for it. I'd take it's "powerfulness" with a grain of salt because you are the most critical factor in its powerfulness. It gives you some basic CADCAM tools to work with, and if you perservere enough, you can do some reasonably tough stuff. It is just that it may take more of your time to accomplish the end result, than a more expensive CADCAM system such as Onecnc, for example.

However, if you want to jump right in to full 3d, well, you're going to have to ante up. Make some money with your machine with low cost software to start, and work your way up, just like the rest of us did

[RayDOsity]

If Visual Mill is out of your price range you're pretty much out of luck, though since the release of Rhino 3 the availability of plugins for Rhino should increase so keep an eye on this page from the Rhino website: http://www2.rhino3d.com/resources/
A new cam plugin called madCAM has just been released for creating 3d toolpaths from Rhino drawings, unfortunately I haven't had the time to test it yet and their site gives no info on what kind of price they're talking about. I've seen some plugins that run 3 times what Rhino costs so you never know with some of these outfits. SMURF is a plugin that comes to mind when talking about wildy overpriced plugs.

[Blackhawk]

Mad cam is free according to Rhino's website

[dcd121]

Madcam demo free. If you want it to post it can be had for under $500.