john. slightly off topic.. I was going to message you direct but thought others might be interested..
I have been looking at alibre at the moment. I tried at 6 months ago and found it much harder to use than solidworks or fusion360. But I am friends with a large company here that designs and builds custom machines and exports them around the world. they use alibre for everything so it must be pretty capable. (they even have a machine shop in america. (this is just a little old new zealand company remember) anyway how did you find the learning curve. I am really keen to start using something that is not cloud based like fusion 360. I think as a company running a machine shop relying on autodesk halfway across the world to keep my data safe is not a good thing. No matter what they say about it. and if there is a good alternative I am all ears. I really dislike cloud software. fusion 360 is awesome and I really like it. I will probably always use it for some things that alibre cam can't do. and the price is right but once again cloud software is a big no no in my book regards Andrew the On Sat, May 30, 2020 at 5:31 PM John Dammeyer <jo...@autoartisans.com> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Chris Albertson [mailto:albertson.ch...@gmail.com] > > Sent: May-29-20 9:33 PM > > To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) > > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] On Motorizing a BS-1 clone > > > > I'd place AlibreCAD on the list of "normal" or "modern" 3D CAD systems. > > Like a scaled down version of Fusion, or SolidWorks. The workflow you > use > > is very conventional. Except AlibreCAD is "windows only" and not free. > > > > What workflow do you use for getting AlibreCAD designs to the CNC mill? > > Does AlibreCAD have a CAM add-on or is there a 3rd party software. One > > of the things I like about Fusion is that it will directly make g-code > for > > a mill or lathe. I would like to hear from others how they go about > going > > from design to both printing and milling. > > It's called AlibreCAM and costs money too. It's a version of Mecsoft CAM > that is integrated into AlibreCAD. So you can flip back and forth between > the two. When you load AlibreCAM from AlibreCAD it remembers that you have > CNC operations for the drawing and asks if you want them loaded. I have > the level that supports the 4th axis. A new version has been released. I > haven't checked yet whether they have solved the 4th axis motion problem. > But apparently that exists in a lot of CAM programs. > > A refresher. If you set F4 for the imperial machine then the feed rate > is 4 IPM. If you want 4 IPM on a rotary object the system has to know > where Z is relative to the axis of rotation to move the rotary axis at a > speed that creates 4 IPM. As the diameter (Z axis) changes the rotary > movement should change. > > This is similar to a CNC lathe changing the spindle speed as the X axis > moves inwards to maintain the same SFM. > > There are aftermarket programs that will process G-Code to fix this for > CAM programs that don't do it right. The last time I checked Mecsoft did > not do it right. I don't believe Fusion does it either. > > John > > > > > > > > > On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 7:28 PM John Dammeyer <jo...@autoartisans.com> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > I use AlibreCAD to draw the item. In this case half of a pulley pattern > > > for the mill conversion. I export the file as an STL. I then load > that > > > with Repetier which is configured for my printer. I can turn it and > > > position it exactly where I want it on the print bed. I then slice it > and > > > save the .gode file. > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Chris Albertson > > Redondo Beach, California > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
