"Bill" wrote:
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 10:38 AM
Subject: Hobbie Cad/CNC software recommendations


I'm going to be building a simple and small cnc machine based off the
design located at

http://www.instructables.com/id/EG9RXG6F54HJ7SL/

[That machine is simple and (very) small, but it's also going to be pretty
weak. It might be able to cut foam parts; I doubt it would save much time
in routing shapes in wood, although it might do some surface carving. Its
main function would be as a learning project; once you've built that, you'll
have the confidence to do it again on a larger scale.]

It looks fairly easy and cheap and I've been wanting to play with CNC for
a
long time now. My question is can anyone recommend software to use to
create the solid models I'll need to use this. The designer uses Kcam to
interface with the unit itself and I'm hoping that I can use LinuxCNC
which
is free but I'm not sure what I need to make the models to start with.

[If you want free software, take a look at MOI - it's currently available as
a free beta program, and it's pretty easy to use. Blender might be another
option, if you're going the Linux route:
http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/ ]


One of my goals for this is to use it to create pinewood derby cars with
my
kids. We've done the cars a couple of years now and what normally happens
is that the kids come up with a design idea, Dad winds up cutting it out
and then they sand and finish them. I'm thinking that I can get them to
do
the entire thing in software and let the CNC machine mill out the basic
shape that they can finish.

I figure once we get over the learning curve of the software then banging
out a car to test a design with will be a piece of cake, but what software
to start with?? For the sake of simplicity consider money no object so
anything from open source up to industrial packages are open to
consideration.

[If money's no object, then there are lots of options. Inovate from IronCAD
is a good choice for industrial-design applications; it's a parametric 3d
modeling program with a lot of nice features. For more organic modeling
tasks, my favorite is Freeform from Sensable Technologies - it gives you
force-feedback to a stylus device, so working on a virtual part becomes a
lot like modeling in clay with real tools.]

Later on I plan on more complex items but right now I think simple is what
I'm going to shoot for so if you want to recommend a simple one and then
one for the really complex stuff be my guest. I'm not sure where this
will
take me but getting the learning curve of a 3d cad program behind be will
get me much closer.

Thanks

Bill

[If you want to start simple, Google's Sketch-up might be something to try:
http://sketchup.google.com/ ]

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com