vector art

What kind of machine are you talking about?

I have a cnc plasma table and here's the process i use: The vector art gets created in cad or a vector art program like Inkscape or Corel Draw. Then it has to be imported into Sheetcam to create the tool paths and Gcode then it goes into mach3 for cutting.
 
i built my router machine and i used "vector machine" to generate their sample g code just to see if mach3 will recognize it. the question i have is what sequence of steps in mach3 do i use. i'm just trying to learn the cad/cam/mach3/ sequence. at 72 i was in school before slide rules.(well almost) so i'm having some trouble learning the computer end of this project. i'm a retired tool and die maker and have a small machine shop so building the machine was within my capabilities. Dan
 
I'm also very interested in the process, from vector to tool path. As a graphic-designer I create vector art quite easily and would love to know what the next steps would be to create tool paths for CNC mills. Thanks for the great question.
 
mach3 has a cam program called lazycam included with your install package, you can load it into lazy cam and from there set your toolpaths needed on the vector art. im not a fan of lazycam but there plenty programs out there, cut2d is pretty cheap and can do all your cam needs, and also sends directly to mach3 when toolpaths created.
 
maineshops said:
after loading vector art into mach3 where do i go from there?
Click to expand...

You don't load vector art into Mach 3. Mach 3 takes a file of g-code and interprets that file into electronic pulses to control the stepper motors (typically). A g-code file is a text file in format that tells the machine to move to a given coordinate, then move here, then turn on the spindle, then move there, etc.

It is possible to write the g-code yourself after studying the individual command and trying a few things, and for simple patterns, many CNCers' do just this. However, soon you will want make more complicated shapes and designs, and writing g-code quickly gets unacceptably tedious and error-prone.

You then need an intermediate piece of software to convert the vector drawing into a g-code file. This is sometimes referred to as the CAM software (which is Computer Aided Manufacturing, as distinct from Computer Aided Drawing, or CAD) Sometimes the CAD and CAM are in one package. Mach comes with Lazycam, a freebie CAD program, but most quickly run into its limitations and need something else.

The CAD program takes the vector drawing, as well as information about tooling like what size mill bit, what feed rate, the geometry of the mill bit, as well as data about the material thickness and size, type of operation, where the coordinate origin will be, etc., and creates a toolpath, represented in the resulting g-code file that is given to Mach3.

Software is the name of the game here - if you are going to CNC, make sure you budget for the software that will do what you want it to do. If you are going to do only simple things, you might get by with some simple and inexpensive software. Usually, though what happens is that as soon as you realize the wide possibilities with this stuff, you want to do more with it, and the money you spent on the inexpensive stuff is wasted when you realize you wanted something better all along. Generally, you get what you pay for here.

Hope this helps,
 
thanks much...all the information i get from you guys is appreciated. i know very little about computers let alone cad cam. i bought bob-cad,cam and am going to work with that. as a retired tool and die maker building the machine was nothing, but this computer stuff has a steep learning curve for me
 
Sure, don't be bashful about asking questions. As with all computer software, the best thing you can do is to figure out in advance what you want to do with it - then select the software that is good at doing those things. Problem is, you often don't know how to answer this when you are just getting started.

Do you just want to cut out parts or shapes from sheet goods? A simple 2D program will do that - the Cut2D one mentioned would work well and shouldn't break the bank. That company, Vectric, I have experience with and their products are very good. They also have a pretty good upgrade policy to go from one package to a more powerful one. Best of all, all their programs use the same basic user interface, so the learning curve between them is slight.

I can't help you with BobCAM - but there are places that will. If you go to CNCzone.com, there are forums dedicated to talking about each software package, and they are pretty helpful there.

Gary
 
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