# Help please



## Ram48 (Oct 7, 2012)

OK,  
I am waiting on a Novakon nm200
I have basic machining skills (real basic) and am a hobby fabricator. What I need is a way to learn Mach3, a recommendation on a good CAM program that can be learned by a non computer guy. I have a Alibre home edition that I am learning.
Getting drawings from cad to cam to g code is what is going to be my personal challenge.
Help!!!


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## Kennyd (Oct 7, 2012)

The only way to learn is to play with them, I use MACH3 and CamBam myself, both have great support forums.


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## DMS (Oct 7, 2012)

AlibreCad I am assuming? I just got a copy, and after a bit of practice, I am really starting to like it. I am using AlibreCAM for my cam package after hand coding all my parts for the last couple months because I was too cheap/indecisive to pull the trigger on a CAM package. There are a couple free/low cost options out there. Dolphin is pretty cheap, and provides both CAD/CAM, but it was too much like Autocad for my taste. CamBam seems pretty popular. There is also a free version from MECSoft called "Free Mill". It only does 3D cutting paths, which means any 2/2.5d stuff you do with it is gonna be SLOW.

Once you get Mach3 up, I would recommend learning some basic Gcode. Chuck up a small wooden dowel, and move the thing around across the table (the dowel will keep you from breaking anything useful, but still gives you a depth indicator). Learn how to start the machine up, and shut it down, especially how to shut it down in a hurry when something goes wrong!

After that, pick a simple project (maybe something like a rocker clamp). Get some cheap endmills (your probably gonna break a lot when you start) and some aluminum to practice on,  and have at it.


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## jumps4 (Oct 7, 2012)

i do most of my cnc completely different from most people
i look at the the material and what i want to do to it, the same as you would manualy
if i need a 1x2" pocket 3/4 of an inch deep i draw a dxf file that size in emachineshop then using d2nd i tell it what cutter i'm using how deep and to stay on the inside profile. I align the spindle to the center of the location or where ever i told the gcode 0 was, send it to mach3 and run it. i do it all at the machine in minutes. i very seldom draw anything that looks like the complete part. it is more of a series of machining paths i telling the machine to take to make the final part. for one off parts it is faster and less chance of mistakes in long codes. if i was doing a production run it would be different.
i should make a vid showing how easy and fast this is.
d2nc and mach3 as a bundle is $215.00 and emachineshop is free
if you already have mach3 d2nc is $79.00
i dont work for these people
steve


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## Ram48 (Nov 18, 2012)

Steve
 Please seriously consider making that video, most all I will be doing is one off stuf for motorsports applications and fun projects for the wife or house at least for the first year or so

DMS
 I like the dowel idea and "Air machining" Do you think 200 ft of dowel will be enough?


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## Hawkeye (Nov 18, 2012)

Yeah, Steve. Do the video. Now that you've roped me into CNC, I have to learn all this stuff, too. :lmao: I'll be playing with Mach3 as well.


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## jumps4 (Nov 18, 2012)

A friend of mine said he would help me video it when we get his cnc machine build done,. then I will start. i do something with my machine every day so it should go pretty fast.
steve


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