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CAD for free ..........
Joe in Oz:
Anyone her try Google Sketchup? Once you get your head around the concept, it is VERY fast.... and completelyt free and can export to several formats. Even has a reader to give to people without the program to allow objects to be moved in space to look at from any side. http://sketchup.google.com/download/
grinder:
--- Quote from: Tinkering_Guy on July 22, 2010, 02:44:28 PM ---I second the comments about Solid Edge 2D. It's free for download from Siemens PLM (you just need to renew the licence a couple of times a year, also for free), and it's way more intuitive than any other CAD package I've touched. Which isn't a lot, but anyway. It's all point&click, with very little keyboard entry, and the relationships handling is great. You can specify that this line is equal in length to that one, these circles are concentric, the edge on this part lines up with the one over there, these lines are parallel, et cetera.
And you can save files in multiple formats, including AutoCAD DWG, for import into other tools.
Maybe someday I'll be able to afford the 3D version; isometric view would be really handy sometimes..
--- End quote ---
Do any of these programs allow exporting code readable by a CNC interpreter? My milling machine has been fitted with XY drives and I'm anxious now to try CNC coding. I've had no experience in CNC programming and need all the help I can get.
John Stevenson:
--- Quote from: grinder on August 30, 2010, 12:17:11 PM ---
--- Quote from: Tinkering_Guy on July 22, 2010, 02:44:28 PM ---I second the comments about Solid Edge 2D. It's free for download from Siemens PLM (you just need to renew the licence a couple of times a year, also for free), and it's way more intuitive than any other CAD package I've touched. Which isn't a lot, but anyway. It's all point&click, with very little keyboard entry, and the relationships handling is great. You can specify that this line is equal in length to that one, these circles are concentric, the edge on this part lines up with the one over there, these lines are parallel, et cetera.
And you can save files in multiple formats, including AutoCAD DWG, for import into other tools.
Maybe someday I'll be able to afford the 3D version; isometric view would be really handy sometimes..
--- End quote ---
Do any of these programs allow exporting code readable by a CNC interpreter? My milling machine has been fitted with XY drives and I'm anxious now to try CNC coding. I've had no experience in CNC programming and need all the help I can get.
--- End quote ---
No you are missing one link called CAM in which you download the exportable file from the CAD program and it generates the G Code needed by the interpretor or more commonly known as controller.
John S.
vtsteam:
I don't know what Trimble has done with the old free SketchUp program after buying it from Google, but I still use both the original SketchUp 7.1 and SketchUp 8.
I've added quite a few free 3rd party Ruby plugins to allow it to go far beyond the limitations of the original slightly crippled free version, including importing and exporting .dxf files, and also added the free Sketch-U-Cam from Phlatboyz to generate G-code. That last is somewhat limited, but free nevertheless, and I've become used to it. It was originally mostly 2D CAM, geared toward Phlatboyz model airplane foam cnc machine, the Phlatprinter, but they made a gantry type extension to the software for cnc mills and routers, and I believe they have added 3D pocketing lately.
I run SketchUp in Wine on Linux. I've heard that Trimble removed the 3D stuff from the current free SketchUp, but haven't checked it out to see how bad it is, since I didn't like the look of their license agreement, and the older Google versions work fine for me.
Anyway, I can recommend the Google versions 7.1 and 8 if you can get hold of them. 7.1 seems to work better with SketchUCam on my computer. 8 does accept some later plugins I occasionally use.
John Stevenson:
Sorry?
Was you asleep VP? You have replied to a 4 year old post. :coffee:
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