Favorite CAM software?

gera229 wrote:

Ahh, okay. It seems like your the only one monitoring this thread.
I will wait for others to reply as well.

Well, I have Bobcad/CAM, it is a bit cumbersome to use, and so I use it more to
make drawings than for the CAM function. The CAM does work fine, but I
mostly do instrument panels and such, with round and square cutouts,
and that is just too much work to do using the typical CAM system.

So, I made a bunch of programs that write G-code for typical things I
do. See pico-systems.com/gcode.html to see what a few of them
do. I have both Windows executables and c source code there.
I string the output of a bunch of these together with a text editor,
and machine it. The Axis preview lets me detect gross screwups
before cutting metal.

For me, this method is about twice as fast as using the CAD/CAM
system. The only downside is I don't have a nice printed drawing.

Jon

paid software ,
mastercam & cimco edit .

I'm a newbie with CAM, expert in drawings.. i was looking for some free CAM for linux, and after having tried PyCam, which is too limited, i've found Heekscad/cam interesting. my machine is a standard XYZ.

Ciao.

Yeah, and PyCAM takes sooooo long to generate the G-Code for me for simple paths. It's ridiculous.

Have you tried FreeMill?

Right now I want something simple and am trying PartKAM which is a flash based application for simple tasks and can mill 2.5D, but I hope it generates G-Code much quicker than PyCAM.

gera229 wrote:

Right now I want something simple

www.sheetcam.com/downloads.shtml
For 2.5D with SheetCAM the trick is to close the paths at each Z-height in the 2D-drawing part of your CAD, and then put all profiles of a certain depth in the same layer (I name the layers after their depth)
Then save as DXF
In SheetCAM you can then cut profiles or pockets with each layer.
It's fine for 2.5D, and doesn't do weird stuff.
It writes LInuxCNC G-code. Les is "one of us"

How would I close the paths?

Also, what is the difference between profiles and pockets? Or what is each and what do they do?
Ehh, I'm still learning.