Hi,
I picked up a CRS Robotics system to play with consisting of a A465 6-axis robot on a 10-foot linear track with C500C controller and RAPL-3 software that comes with it. I would like to mount it inverted in my garage with a small router on the end of the arm, and use it to: 1) cut out 2-D foam panels, and 2) cut 3-D shapes out of large foam blocks.
My application is a large sailboat that I've designed in Solidworks, and I want to use this setup to make the 2-D bulkhead foam cores, and 3-D plugs for hull molding.
Being new to this CNC/CAM stuff, my questions are:
1. Does any software package already exist that can take DXF and convert it to RAPL-3 code to drive the robot as a 2-D or 3-D router (or otherwise drive the robot without the RAPL-3)?
2. If not, I think I can write RAPL-3 software that will read g-code and translate it into RAPL-3 commands. What software package(s) are recommended to take DXF files and generate 2-D and/or 3-D g-code?
Thanks,
John Clayton