Newbie here, I understand Fusion 360 can be a stand alone CAD/CAM package. Draw your part and use it to make it. So what controller are you (Fusion users) using to take advantage of this to drive your steppers? I have browsed the net trying to learn and from what I see is that most controllers use " a software" that comes with the controller be it Grbl, Mach 3/4 or.... Currently I'm working on a variation of KYO's sphinx and would like to use Fusion 360 to run it ,build the plates and other items ,so I don't have to learn another program, then upgrade to the bigger one for cutting acrylic to build fish tanks (side business). I'm using KYO's as a building/learning experience before the bigger step to my version of CNC Router Parts pro 60 x 108. tia
Almost any controller will work with Fusion 360. Heck even a Uno ! I use my own grbl controller running GRBL 1.1f and Bcnc as my GUI. The work flow chain is like so. CAD CAM Control GUI In the case of Fusion 360, CAD and CAM are built into one package. Electronics and software go hand in hand while Fusion 360 can be used as cad/cam for any of them; a grbl controller will not work with Mach3/4 nor will a B.O.B (break out board ) work directly with grbl. Once you decide on Software your hardware / Controller choices get narrowed down. To give you some ideas here are a few of the more common software options and controllers they work with. Keep in mind Fusion will work with all of them. Control GUI : Controller --------------------------------------------------- Mach3/4 : cm126ESS Linuxcnc : 7I76E UCCNC : UC400ETH Bcnc (+Others) : X-pro V3 (grbl controller) ------------------------------------------------------------------ With GRBL the control GUI is the software you use on your computer to talk with your grbl controller to control your steppers/machine. Grbl itself is firmware running on the controller. You have a lot of options for the GUI when using a controller running the grbl firmware. Universal G-code sender , bCNC, grbl panel and many more. If going with a grbl controller give them all a go and see what you like best. Everyone has a preference. With Fusion when you do your cam operations you can save your G-code out using one of several different posts. There is a GRBL Post available as well as one for Mach , ect. . Fusion 360 would not be the software you use to control the cnc just the cad / cam to create your part , tool paths and g-code files. The g-code files will be used by your control gui (bcnc is what I use for example ) to run your machine..
Kyo Thank you taking the time and breaking it down, more reading! I saw that the CNC xPro V3 will drive and control the steppers. Being on a budget as well as still learning would be the best choice to run my first CNC machine, I found and installed UGS on my PC (guessing in the back of my mind I will use that with Fusion) And I will look at Chillipepper as well. - free is good for now. Should make this a sticky for noob's like me
