On Thu, April 5, 2012 6:57 am, Marc Nicholas wrote:
> Like many people, I'm fascinated by the possibilities of having my own
> CNC/laser cutter/3D printer. And like many, I don't have the budget to
> either acquire a professional machine or the budget for the divorce fees
> if
> I did ;)
>
> I really liked the look of the ShapeOko (horrible name!) project at
> www.shapeoko.com. The designer used the MakerSlide v-rail system for most
> of the design, and the resulting 3-axis CNC is nice and 'clean' looking.
> Apparently the brave can turn it into a 3D printer, which is something I'=
m
> going to have a crack at once I get CNC working.

Nice kit, but I'll warn you, in doing CNC, the hardware is the easy part
of the whole project. I built myself a CNC machine, retrofitting a Harbor
Freight mini-mill (known in the home CNC world as an X2), but using the
Linux CNC software <http://www.linuxcnc.org/>. Unless you're fine working
with G-code, the leap from idea to object is still very incomplete.  The
CAD and CAM steps are referred to in the wiki for shapeoko thusly: "Edward
created the G-code you'll use for your first job, so you don't need to
worry about CAD yet." and "Edward created the G-code you'll use for your
first job, so you don't need to worry about CAM yet."

The CAD and CAM steps are some of the most difficult to take in the
open-source/free world. Sketchup is a good start, but incomplete, at least
when it comes to moving to g-code (at least from what I've found- I would
*VERY* much like to be shown to be mistaken here).

For simple drilling operations, writing directly in G-Code is pretty easy,
and what I've mostly done with my CNC. I've fiddled a bit with the Eagle
G-code conversion programs, but I've found quick turn PCB-houses easier.
Maybe not cheaper.

Matt Bennett
Just outside of Austin, TX
30.51,-97.91

The views I express are my own, not that of my employer, a large
multinational corporation that you are familiar with.
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