--- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
On Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 12:34 AM, Lars Kruse <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Luke, > > I just read your last update [1], even though it is already three weeks old. > It was a good and interesting read - thank you for that! > > There you mentioned the bad shape of Free Software in the fields of CNC > milling. > In general I have to agree. But I think, it is not as bleak as you experienced > it. > > There is indeed a usable toolchain of Free Software for 2D or 3D design, > toolpath generation and machine control. Sadly especially the toolpath > generation process is far from being as fast and full of features as it should > be. > Personally I maintain PyCAM [2] (a toolpath generator). > The toolpath generators are the weak link between a range of good libre 3D and > 2D design software and linuxcnc [3] - an excellent and mature software for > machine control. > > Feel free to contact me, if this topic is of any practical interest for you > right now. appreciated lars - we tried pycam: it failed to do the job, throwing an exception on the first shape it was given in "rough prototyping mode" and listing an estimated 2 hours to complete the "finished" (experimental) path. some help resolving that would be great. trieed blendercam but blender is so shit and user-hostile it was impossible to use. also it can't cope with STL files due to the assumption that the object is designed in blender: a property of the object is assumed to exist which in STL objects does not. heekscad's "libre" version is deliberately crippled as a loss-leader for the *windows-only* proprietary variant. linuxcnc we're already using, it's the firmware / driving stuff, that seems stable and useable but as you say doesn't do the toolpath generation. l. _______________________________________________ arm-netbook mailing list [email protected] http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook Send large attachments to [email protected]
