Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CNC Pro?

Mike Phillips wrote:

>Bob,
>
>I'm a long time CNCPro user too. So please explain why Mach3 is so
>great. It's not that expensive, I just don't know if it's worth the
>swap. My cpu is an 800mhz PIII run Windows 98. Hope that's fast
>enough. Doesn't Mach3 run on 2000 or higher?
>
>Mainly I'd like to have a more efficient process. Right now it's this:
>
>1) Draw the part in cad.
>2) Make 1/2 end mill diameter offset lines of the part.
>3) Export the offset lines in dxf.
>4) Import into ACE or MyTmill for Gcode generation.
>5) Clean up code.
>6) Test mill motion for any gotchas.
>7) Machine part.
>
>Way too long.
>
>Mike
>
>

It might be good to try EMC2. It has software step generation on the
parallel port (like Mach and CNCPro, I guess), or you can use any of
several hardware step generators and/or servo cards, if you decide to
upgrade your machine.

You can eliminate step 2 because EMC2 has good tool offsetting. (G41
and G42)
Steps 4-6 might be doable using the AXIS user interface and a utility
program that converts DXF to G-code. AXIS can be configured (easily, by
editing an ini file) to allow you to load various file formats by
running them through a filter program. It runs the external program on
the file you select, and then loads the resulting G-code. This code is
then shown in a 3-D preview window that you can manipulate: pan, zoom,
rotate. G1/G2/G3 moves are shown as solid lines and G0 are shown as
dashed lines, and the extents of motion are shown along the axes. If
you see a line that doesn't make sense, you can click on it, and the
corresponding line of G-code will be higlighted. The converse is also
true, click on a line of G-code and the motion from that line will be
hilighted in the preview pane.

If you like the looks of it, click "run", and machine away ...

There are a couple of things to be configured to get this to work
seamlessly (and it amy not be perfect when you're done), but it should
be a good step for you.

You can download a liveCD from <http://www.linuxcnc.org>. This CD has a
realtime kernel and EMC 2.0.5, which unfortunately doesn't have the file
filter feature. If the pinouts match, you can actually run a machine
with this liveCD, without installing anything to your hard drive. (it
won't be very fast and the acceleration/velocity configuration probably
won't be right, but you can try it out).

- Steve