Hi. I'm in the market for a laptop that will run my Lead Machine 1010 with a Black Box. I make my CAD and CAM files in Fusion 360. I intend to use Universal Gcode Sender on the lap top to run Black Box. I got 300 - 500 to spend. So what kind of laptop will I need to run this set up? Thanks for any help.
Look at Fusions required specs and get an appropriate laptop. If it can run Fusion, it will run the rest just fine
Thx Im not or do not intend to run fusion360 on that. Just some software that can read .nc,.stl gcode to send to Black Box?
Understood, but, the minimum specs that Fusion needs System requirements for Autodesk Fusion 360 | Fusion 360 | Autodesk Knowledge Network is very appropriate to all of the other applications involved. Plus it won't hurt to have Fusion near the machine for some last minute re-CAMs
well most of the laptops in that range have AMD Ryzen 5 3500U 2.1 Ghz 4 cores with 8 gigs of ram windows 10 64bit which will run Fusion 360 but is that really necessary? Isn't a computer like that overkill?
A NvME/SSD harddrive, and a Good GPU (ATI or NVidia instead of Intel) first considerations before worrying about RAM and CPU. 8GB of RAM is fine, CPU less of a worry, all modern CPUs in that price range will be fine
I use a 7 year old Toshiba laptop (1.6gb processor) with 4Gb or ram which was a budget machine at the time (about what you wanna pay now.) I've dedicated it to CNC only - no other programs are run.at the same time and it works fine for me. I also had a crappy Toshiba palm top with a 1gig processor running before that which also worked ok.
Workbee "style" 1010, leadscrew driven. Nema 23, 270oz-in" on all axes. Arduino UNO controller with shield designed for my set-up. TB6600 drivers. 30V power supply. Makita 0700 router. I have F360 but haven't used it for CNC work so no comment on that. I use Sketchup 8 for design (I don't design battleships or rockets) V-carve Pro on my mates PC. Universal G-code sender Platform for most work. OpenCNC Pilot for PCB manufacturing. (I use Design spark PCB and FlatCam for that). Hope that helps!
Yes it does... So what is your work flow? I don't know anything about Sketchup 8 does it export .nc or .stl files?
Sketchup can export STL files using a plugin, but not .nc - those files (nc) are generated by a CAM program - sketchup is just CAD. V-carve can import .STL or sketchup files (.SKP) for creating toolpaths.There are other cam programs out there including Openbuilds cam for toolpathing and creating .nc files. So, for me, the workflow is... Sketchup for 2D or 3d drawings and .stl or .skp export. V carve (or other CAM program) for importing those files and creating g-code files. UGS for sending code to the CNC. (Openbuilds control can also be used). If you want to use Fusion for your drawing and g-code, make sure you use the correct post processor. Fusion 360: grbl post processor install (the easy way) The above may not be the latest but someone here will know.
Here is a great computer (so far in my experience) from Costco for $489 if you are a member. https://www.costco.com/hp-15.6"-touchscreen-laptop---10-gen-intel-i5-1035g1.product.100579386.html Costco gives a 3 year warranty automatically. If it is better than the one you design with, move that one to the shop. It also has touch screen capabilities. I bought one for my son for his birthday in September (I get his old one for my CNC Lathe) and he loves it and plays a lot of games on it. It has a solid state drive so it boots up quick. I just ordered another one for my other son for Christmas since he has the oldest laptop in the house now and I need another old one for my K40 laser. The old windows 7 craptop I have been using with the K40 is tooooooo slow for me. Here are some of the specs: 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 Processor at 1.0GHz 12GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM
