Built a C-Beam in 2015 and have been using it since about every 2 or 3 months to make stuff for my many other hobbies. Have had lots of fun along the way and have even managed to use the C-Beam to make twice the money I invested in it. It doesn't owe me anything, It's been fun. And it continues to work. Got to thinking as it turns 2020, 5 years later. Wonder if there is any better software than the combination of free stuff I've been using for the last 5 years? Currently I use Sketchup 2016 free version. SketchUCam 1.4 to generate gcode which I view in GCode Plotter. Occasionally I also view the gcode in OpenSCAM 0.2.5 but I really never learned that program. I then send the gcode to the C-Beam which is controlled with a using GrblPanel 1.0.9.13. My C-Beam is controlled with a Sparks Concepts xPro V2 9GRBL V 0.9) This all works but there are bugs here and there. Wondering what is the latest hot combination of freeware or maybe even reasonably priced software. Of course I'm running this on a 8 year old PC but at least it's got an early version of Win10. Thanks for the discussion. Bruce
grbl is now on 1.1, though bear in mind if you upgrade, the pinout is a little different. Personally I work almost entirely in Fusion 360, and Notepad++ if there's anything to do manually to the Gcode, so my knowledge of the other stuff is limited. Fusion is still free for hobbyist use, though.
Thanks Rob. I did not know Fusion 360 is free for hobbyist use. I assume design drawing is done and cut paths created and gcode generated all in Fusion. For some reason I believe I might be using a grbl version higher than 0.9. I can't remember and didn't figure out what my current version is. My xPro came with 0.9 at least so I know I'm not lower than that. My under lying question. My software scheme of Sketchup 2016, SketchUCam 1.4 and GrblPanel 1.0.9.13. has been frozen for some time. My hobby is not continually upgrading and learning new software and building new or modifying CNC machines, but using my CNC for other hobbies and interests. I'm wondering if my current scheme is still a viable path to upgrade. For example is there versions of each of the software greater than I have with improvements. I did a very quick look and didn't see any. Perhaps this software path is dead and there is a new better hot combination. Asked another way, if I was building my first C-Beam today, what is the hot recommended freeware software path for designing through cutting? Back when I did it there was videos stepping one through each software which is why I was successful and in fact the reason I took the plunge into CNC routing. Are there how to videos using current day software?
Not sure if you can rewire inside an xPro or not. One of the reasons I like to stick to vanilla hardware targets rather than specialized all-in-one products (TV/DVD/VCR combo, anybody?!). I use bCNC as my grbl g-code sender. It's Python-based, but that's not an issue with the drip-feed nature of grbl. It works pretty nicely though, with a lot of milling features and I think some CAM functionality. How currently-supported it is, I don't know, but it works well enough for my purposes. In Fusion you'd literally build the thing you're creating in 3D CAD (perhaps with imported vector files, especially for text, it's not super great at that), and then create the milling operations in the CAM side. Tons of YouTube videos on it out there, it's probably the best-supported software in terms of education. The downside is it's cloud-based and subject to changes decreed by Autodesk. This is the dedicated control panel (or will be, once I sort out some wiring bugs) that I built in Fusion to 3D print: If I had a 4/5-axis mill, I could have CAMed it to machine inside Fusion too. Very powerful. And the mill gantry, when I was originally designing the head dimensions: That's an older version of Fusion (which I prefer, in retrospect, but such is life with cloud software).
There is also the free Openbuilds software. Personally, I design in Fusion360. It seems more intuitive to me than SketchUp. I would be hesitant to change anything if what I had worked for me every time. I just upgraded to a new version of Cura for slicing parts for 3D printing and it somehow managed to loose all my filament profiles. I wish I wouldn't have upgraded.
I have a CBeam too. Use Sketchup/Sketchucam for some things. F360 for a lot of things. F-Engrave (free) has turned out to be a real gem for carving type stuff. I made a lot of boxes for Christmas presents this year and carved designs into the lids. They were very well received. That has earned a lot of "SO goodwill credits" and my geeky-CNC-obsession isn't nearly as bad as she used to think. I'm going to be withdrawing a lot from that account to buy a Pro4824 so every bit helps. You could look at VCarve, don't know if that works for you but you can do some pretty sophisticated stuff with it. As to GRBL Panel. I'm still using it. Wish it was being supported. I've tried all sorts of others but honestly, GRBL panel works best for me. If you held a gun to my head and made me switch, I'd go with bCNC. It's not too bad and also runs on a RasPi.
Check out the Openbuilds Cam before you buy anything.. I've been using ESTLcam, it's free to try and cheap to buy, for a year or so now and have not wanted anything else.. I find it can easily handle complex shapes such as gears and v-carving where SketchUcam would choke. Also, it has simple to setup and understand "adaptive" type (trochoidal) machining abilities which let you do aluminum for example. I use NanoCad 5.0 free (just like Autocad) for all my 2D dimensional drawing (DXF), and Inkscape for SVG art work (Estlcam can take SVG and you can do cam directly to it). Fusion is awesome, but I found that for drawing simple 2.5D projects it's just overkill. Estlcam supports GRBL, or you can flash your controller firmware (arduino Uno, mega, XPro, or blackbox) to use the baked in Estlcam control. cheers Gary
