On Mon, 2021-07-19 at 10:43 -0700, Chris Albertson wrote: > > I would argue that point, its pre-alpha status, no useable code > > yet. The > > promise is there, and it sounds good. I would love to be able to do > > something in openscad, export the .stl, and carve it on my 6040 or > > G0704. So the site got bookmarked and will be watched. But the > > prospectus pdf was written in 2012, so in 9 years I would have > > assumed > > SOME code would be written. > > > > I agree, it is not useful yet and progress is slow. They do have > quite a > lot of C++ code written but the last work was added in May 2020 and > it > seems there is only one person working on this. > > I am also alarmed that they use STL files as input. All the intent > is > "gone" when you save as STL. For example, a threaded blind hole is > just a > shape made with a thousand triangles and the software would never > know to > use a drill and tap. Same with curves, the STL is a list of > straight segments and the software would never know that a curve was > intended. > > A better CAM system would start with STEP files. STEP describes > geometry, > whereas STL approximates shape using many line segments. > > Today a good-enough free CAD is Fusion360 but the free version is > limited > to three-axis milling.
I have always used STL files when saving from FreeCAD, they work well with PyCAM. But PyCAM situation is even worse, the author has been unresponsive in the last two years and has never fixed the latest issues, so GenericCAM is more recent, and also it is not limited to 3 axis. Never used Fusion360 which is commercial and as you say the free version is limited. > > > > > > > > > http://genericcam.sourceforge.net/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Emc-users mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > Cheers, Gene Heskett > > -- > > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: > > soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." > > -Ed Howdershelt (Author) > > If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law > > respectable. > > - Louis D. Brandeis > > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > > _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
