I have not done much more to the machine itself as I have been fighting the work flow. I have been trying various things for about 3 or 4 weeks, but I have basically stopped down to get a handle on it as this is a kind of important bit of the puzzle. I have been trying to find a tool chain that is as close to free as possible (The Shapeoko was an expensive bit of kit)(relatively speaking).
Many people jump into InkScape and start going. Being a software snob (something I need to get over. I get it). Like most things, I do not want a surface understanding about what is going on, I want to grok with a fullness. I don’t remember how, but I accidentally found Draftsight. I have spent a lot of time trying to come up to speed on it. The idea was Draftsight for design into MakerCam for Cam and G-Code production then mill. The problem I had was that everything I was designing was initially getting scaled up by 6 and a half times. I finally found out that upon install Draftsight defaults to imperial even though I had specified millimeters (something not mentioned in any of their tutorials btw). I found that I could change the default to an ISO template so numbers started to make more sense. I exported an svg on my design and took this into MakerCam. Things then started to get stupid again. This is the cam software that the Shapeoko people recommend to get yourself going. Perhaps this is just fine if you are going to InkScape then to MakerCam, but I have not had it work all the way through without something going really wrong (from weird numbers, crazy decimals, crashes when zooming, no undos…). So, I have decided to stay as far away from it as possible. Free is not worth that much frustration
I then downloaded FreeMill (a free little cam app that comes with Visual CadCam 2014) and started to fight with that as it has been said to be a pretty good CAM app. I tried and tried and tried to get it to see my drawings as a “part”. The short story here is that it does not do 2.5D, only 3D. So, I am keeping that in my back pocket for when I need 3D. So onwards…
This week I decided that my time was more valuable, so I ditched the idea of not trying any of the paid software options. If it will do the job, and I save a year not having to fight all the little work arounds, then I am all for it. I downloaded CamBam. It is a $150 CAM program that has a LOT of really nice features in it (scope is coming from MakerCam). I get 40 uses fully featured before it clamps down to 500 lines of G-Code. A use is considered starting/closing the program. So, I have had it open for a couple of days. I will eventually need to throw down some money, so be it as long as it works and works well. The nice thing is that it is geared toward a range of people types, so it will do, 2D, 2.5D, 3D, engraving, and most recently added PCB. PCBs are one of the reasons I wanted the mill, so at $150 is not a bad price (especially seeing what some cams can cost). Snow days are great for getting all sorts of things done. My target is one of my left over Pinewood Derby blocks. It is essentially the mill version of Hello world. They recommend that you cut out the initial of your first name. I chose to make a pocketed Island of my whole name with a little square around it. I just have to get up the balls to actually go do it. Seeing how this thing has just taken off for reasons I do not yet understand, frightens me. The idea of a robot running off with a very fast moving cutting device attached to it…myeah. The sucker is strong too. When it wants to go somewhere I am not going to be stopping it. Only a reset, or cutting the power will do it. I have a mushroom safety switch that I will be wiring into this eventually for such a thing.
