[4lowie]

Hi guys
I got a couple of questions.... I'm thinking about getting a small mill and cncing it, any recommendations of a reasonable machine to look for....

The other question is a cad software to work with mach3. I've tried quite a few and most have a step learning curve, google schetch up is easy and produces some nice drawings. I can take these file to blender and produce stl files but I can't find a way to finish with a file type that will work with mach3. Any ideas?

Thanks

[TarHeelTom]

Hi guys
I got a couple of questions.... I'm thinking about getting a small mill and cncing it, any recommendations of a reasonable machine to look for....

Sherline makes a very high quality mill which can be ordered with cnc installed, or cnc ready, or manual.

The other question is a cad software to work with mach3. I've tried quite a few and most have a step learning curve, google schetch up is easy and produces some nice drawings. I can take these file to blender and produce stl files but I can't find a way to finish with a file type that will work with mach3. Any ideas?

Thanks

You may be missing a step here.

There are several steps involved in producing a part using cnc.

First is to conceive the part in your mind.

Then draw it in one or more views using a cad program.

The next step is to run it through a cam program which turns the drawing file (such as your stl file) and turns it into one or more gcode files.

Now you load the stock into your machine and load the gcode file into mach3 or emc2 and watch the machine cut out your part.

Although there are several good drawing programs (cad) out there at low or no cost, the selection of cam programs is more limited. One recent addition (I've not used it) is the Heeks program (if memory serves me).

Most of the higher dollar cad programs include a cam program.

You might want to look at some of the Vectric programs. A trial version can be downloaded for free. There is also a free engraving program out there which generates gcode directly. Don't remember the title.

Tom

[arose62]

I can't find a way to finish with a file type that will work with mach3. Any ideas?

Have you looked at the X3 mill? Promica in Australia do a kit for it - have a look at their website (cnckits.com.au).

Re: "file type" - it's more the contents, than just the file type. It seems that there are quite a few file extensions used for files which contain GCode (which is what Mach3 reads)
Some use *.tap, some use *.cnc, etc. etc.

Have a look at this page for a more comprehensive list

Known G-Code file extensions.

You might find that what looks like an insurmountable gap is really just a matter of renaming a file to change the extension.

Cheers,
Andrew