http://diylilcnc.org/forum/tags/software Free, open-source plans for a low-cost 3-axis CNC mill by Taylor Hokanson and Chris Reilly. Sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. en-US Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:36:28 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://diylilcnc.org/forum/search.php http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/software-workflows#post-551 Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:58:23 +0000 Chris 551@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>All,</p> <p>We're working on putting together some suggestions for preferred software solutions for each of the steps in the milling process. Below are the categories and a selection of initial solutions. Criteria: must be free/cheap!</p> <p><strong>2D vector generation:</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.inkscape.org/download/?lang=en">Inkscape</a> (Free, Win/Mac)</p> <p><strong>3D model (&amp; 2D vector) generation:</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.rhino3d.com/">Rhino</a> (PC is cheap, MacOS is still in <a href="http://community.irhino3d.com/">Beta</a> and free)<br /> <a href="http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/">Blender</a> (Free, Win/Mac/Linux)<br /> <a href="http://sketchup.google.com/download/">Sketchup Pro</a> (Free demo, Win/Mac)</p> <p><strong>Toolpathing</strong> (converting models to paths for a tool to follow):<br /> <strike>Here's one we haven't directly researched yet.</strike><br /> <a href="http://www.mecsoft.com/freemill.shtml">FreeMILL</a> is a pretty good basic toolpath generator for Windows. It's free, fairly limited, but also easy to install &amp; use.<br /> <a href="http://www.cambam.co.uk/download/latest.html">Cambam Free</a> is not open source, but it is free and looks like it may offer more features than Freemill.</p> <p>Also, <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/pycam/">Pycam</a> (Free, Win/Mac/Linux) looks promising, so try it and tell us what you think!<br /> <a href="http://www.zebra3d.com/">Zebra 3D</a> is a work-in-progress (ie, free for now) plugin for Rhino. Looks like there's some good functionality.</p> <p><strong>Machine Control:</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.linuxcnc.org/">EMC</a> (Free, Linux) </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-503 Thu, 20 May 2010 19:22:50 +0000 Chris 503@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Also, check the <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/downloads">downloads</a> section for an EMC2 configuration made for the DIYLILCNC. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-502 Thu, 20 May 2010 16:31:32 +0000 Chris 502@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@jaunders, that's really exciting! Please send us some pictures if you get the chance.</p> <p>This problem you're describing could be caused by either bad wiring or incorrect software settings. </p> <p>When troubleshooting, I've found it easier to focus on one motor out of the three, usually the X or Y axis motor. </p> <p>Double check that your wiring matches what is described in the HobbyCNC documentation; make sure that the correct color wires are leading to the proper pins on the board.</p> <p>If everything looks like it's connected correctly, try testing the connectivity (with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter">multimeter</a>) of each wire on the motor to make sure it is actually connecting to the board.</p> <p>If the physical connections look OK, then focus on the software settings you're using in EMC. </p> <p>Have you gone through the steps of doing the <a href="http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?TweakingSoftwareStepGeneration#Run_a_Latency_Test">latency test</a>? This will help you figure out the settings to use as you work through the <a href="http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.3/html/config_stepconf.html">EMC Stepconf Wizard</a>. There's a more detailed version of this process outlined on page 63 of the PDF in the <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/downloads">downloads</a> section.</p> <p>Try those troubleshooting steps and let us know what happens. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-501 Thu, 20 May 2010 12:00:26 +0000 jaunders 501@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>we have an almost complete build in New Zeland , however are haivng issues with emc2 and the steppers only making small jittery movements without full rotations does anyone have any ideas or there mill configure file in which we could try ? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-recommendation-for-reading-editing-files#post-443 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:15:52 +0000 alorenz 443@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>After doing more research, and according to documentation inkscape will only export dxf, not read it. No idea about what blender does. However I found Qcad will work, it takes forever to load the data. I went to sleep at 2:00 and the data was there at 7:00. Will list other software that works as I come across it. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-recommendation-for-reading-editing-files#post-442 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:22:10 +0000 alorenz 442@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Well I have tried both and they don't seem to work. Inkscape loads, but just show blank pages, where I can select the different layers but nothing seems to be there. Installed blender but that seemed to do nothing. Waited about 15 minutes ... just in case. Could you post the panels individually. From reading the forum that seems to be some of the problems..( maybe ) Thanks. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-recommendation-for-reading-editing-files#post-437 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:40:54 +0000 Chris 437@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@alorenz, <a href="http://www.blender.org/">Blender</a> and <a href="http://www.inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a> are probably good ones to start with. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-recommendation-for-reading-editing-files#post-436 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:56:59 +0000 alorenz 436@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>What software for linux would you recoomand for reading / editing dxf files ? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-249 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:20:08 +0000 DIYengineer 249@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I have heard good things about Mach 3. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-194 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:22:29 +0000 Chris 194@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>You definitely want a machine with an on-board parallel port. We've tried several other adapter options ourselves, with no success. </p> <p>While there are usb-paralell adapters that can work for things like printers, the real-time control needed for EMC requires a real live parallel port. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-193 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:21:59 +0000 Schweppes 193@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Tuxcnc is an option and if you have some patience you can compile emc2 from source to your mac.</p> <p>At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a darwin port made up already.</p> <p>Bill, there are thousands of usb to parallel adapters...However, I'm not entirely sure if it's fast enough though. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-191 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:31:40 +0000 Bill 191@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>You're never going to find a usable Mac with a built-in parallel port. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-189 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:59:24 +0000 Taylor 189@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@hecsedli,</p> <p>We never found any options for the Mac, but we didn't look that hard either. My guess is that CAM is obscure enough that no one has bothered to port one of the many Linux/PC options that are out there. We'd be happy to be proved wrong, as we're working off of MacBook Pro's on a day to day basis.</p> <p>If the G4 will take Linux and has a parallel port, I don't see why it wouldn't work. You can get a build from linuxcnc.org that comes with EMC preinstalled. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-187 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:19:40 +0000 hecsedli 187@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Hi,</p> <p>What do you think — I have an old Power Mac G4, which has an Nvidia graphic card, and has all the parameters you've mentioned — can I use this for controlling diylil? I can install Ubuntu on it (not the latest one, but a very new release of it is supporting PPC). Or do you have any ideas of a free and good native Mac app for this? Thanks! </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-147 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:29:01 +0000 Taylor 147@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I've used TurboCNC - it's workable and free, but pretty ugly (as it runs straight from DOS) and a little hard to control. VNC might get complicated as the HobbyCNC board requires real-time signaling from the computer. If you remotely ask a computer to run an NC file that is local (to the controlled computer), then you should be OK. Sounds exciting - let us know how your setup works out. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-146 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:15:29 +0000 Chris 146@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>There are definitely Windows alternatives and, while they're not particularly expensive, none [that I know of] are free &amp; open-source. </p> <p>You may want to look at <a href="http://www.dakeng.com/turbo.html">TurboCNC</a> or <a href="http://www.machsupport.com/">Mach3</a>. </p> <p>On a related note, Linux does allow you to install through Windows as a boot configuration, which makes dual booting really, really easy. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/linux-emc2#post-145 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:08:37 +0000 Open Form Architecture 145@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I wanted to ask about the controlling software options. The reason is that I want to be able to control the computer from a remote connection (and not on a local network) such as a LogMeIn type of connection. I have snooped around the web and found the <a href="http://www.skullbox.net/vncserver.php"> VNC Server (link example How-To)</a> for remote connections, but that I might have some difficulties.</p> <p><strong>Concerning the Linux/EMC2 controlling software, is there a Windows based alternative?</strong> I will be running Rhinoceros and RhinoCAM for creating the 3D files, so if I can stay in Windows, that is far better. The dedicated computer we will use to control the CNC machine will be a dual boot setup. Thanks! </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/software#post-79 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:56:26 +0000 bill 79@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Excellent. I looked in the forum and various other places, but I didn't actually download the PDF, because I was under the impression it was just diagrams for cutting out parts. Looks like a pretty cool setup. I hope you have great success with it. :-) </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/software#post-65 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:34:14 +0000 Taylor 65@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Funny you should mention it, as EMC is our software of choice. We describe how EMC is used as our controller on pages 61-63 of the project instructions PDF (see Downloads section). </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/software#post-64 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:03 +0000 bill 64@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Neat project. I can't see any mention of the software you're using to run the machine. If you're not already using it, I'd recommend EMC/Axis, available as open software at <a href="http://www.linuxcnc.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.linuxcnc.org</a> </p>