All hail the experts! I seek you infinite wisdom and guidance for the problem at hand:
I've been machining 4-5 years as a hobby (most of the time, anyway), and have been using a CNC converted taig for ~2 years now. However, I've have been going through a lot of trouble to generate Gcode for Mach 3. I've written it by hand, used a sequence of drafting/freeware cam software to generate Gcode, etc... And would really like to purchase a cam software package that suites my needs. I was hoping I could get some suggestions/opinions from you.
Some Info:- Price range - Preferably under $500 (I'm a Grad Student
) - Mostly make mechanical, functional parts that are part of a larger assemblies.
- Mostly 2.5D parts - Pocketing, Profiling, Drilling
- Occasional 3D parts - I have an artistic streak every once in a while.
- I don't mind taking some time to learn a new program.
Hope that's enough info to generate some suggestions, I eagerly await your words of wisdom.
