I am new to CNC and CAD, so starting from a low point I have an Ox, connected to a Raspberry Pi running bCNC, that is all working. What I need to do now is create some part designs to export to bCNC for cutting. I have looked at freeCAD and it seems to do everything that I want, but even though it has many options for file export there does not seem to be one that can be imported into bCNC. I assume it must be possible but cannot see how, can anyone help please? I could use something other than freeCAD if that would help, but I am 100% Linux, so sketchup is not an option. Thanks Mick
Hey Mick, You will need to create a Gcode file to open with Bcnc. The work flow is as follows. CAD ( design a part ) ---> CAM ( Define how the design will be cut out and generate the Gcode file ) --> Bcnc.. FreeCAD can do cad and cam all in one, however I have not messed with it a whole lot. There is a new video series covering this on Youtube by Sliptonic "Here" Inkscape or LibreCAD (2D) or FreeCAD (3D) for your cad and LaserWeb4 for your cam. Laserweb supports importing DXF/SVG/BITMAP/JPG/PNG file types. "Here" is the Linux page on the github wiki. It does so much more then just Lasers dxf2gcode is another Linux option, wiki page "Here". You could also use Easel it is browser based Linux compatible free cad/cam option that is straight forward and easy to use for most simple projects.
fusion 360 is free and can output a dxf file that bcnc can read. i don't remember if fusion can run in linux...
why would you export a dxf from fusion when fusion can produce fantastic Gcode? I run Sketchup v8 in WINE on Ubuntu 12. yeah, due for an upgrade (-: Using the SketchUcam plugin in Sketchup I can generate Gcode directly from Sketchup. I can then access that file through the network from the Linux laptop that runs bCNC to drive the OX.
Fusion 360 is great for Windows and Mac systems. They have a browser version as well that is cross platform. But I have very little success running it on any of my Linux systems. Could just be my hardware ( my pc hardware is rather outdated ) or Internet connection ect. hard to tell. If your running newer hardware it might be worth a look; powerful , feature rich and free for us hobbyists. This ! I have done the same for a while now.. Sketchup 8 runs very well on Linux under Wine (Linux Mint 18 Sarah). I still keep V8 installed to. 2017 works but took a lot of fiddling and still not as reliable for me. As it is Sketchup 8 is also the last free version of sketchup you can use for any sort of commercial purposes I am told. Google now Trimble no longer host the install file for Sketchup 8 but it can be found on Jay Bates website. Looks like 2017 was the last free stand alone install version of sketchup, I have not tried the new free Sketchup browser based software yet. I assume the new browser version of sketchup would not run the sketchuCAM plugin?
Hi Kyo, Many thanks for your reply. I have looked at the Sliptonic video and the Path option on FreeCAD looks really promising. I need to spend some time evaluating the other options as well, but I now feel that there is a solution there somewhere. Thank you. Mick
no idea right now. 2017 will not run on my laptop since it needs more graphics hardware. i have 8 to 2016 installed on the laptop for pre-release testing. I test on 2017 on my work computer (and I may not be here next year). I have not looked at the web version recently, I did see the first release which could not run plugins. it will probably be achingly slow given our wonderful African internet. but, if the browser based edition can now make use of standard ruby plugins then SketchUcam should work fine.
