Vectric's new Cut2D

[Greolt]

Vectric have just introduced Cut2D. Haven't seen an official announcement yet.

A very good and easy to use 2D cam software.

It compares very well with Sheetcam, Lazycam and others for cost and leaves them in the dust as far as user interface is concerned.

In comparison to Vcarve Pro it will not do the vee carving toolpaths and does not have the bitmap to vector converter included.

But for $149 US it represents very good value.

The great thing is if you start with Cut2D and later want to upgrade to Vcarve Pro you only pay a $30 premium on the full Vcarve Pro price.

$149 Cut2D

$599 Vcarve Pro

$480 upgrade from Cut2d to Vcarve Pro

So with the upgrade path in mind this makes Cut2D a great starting point for those getting into CNC routing.

Greg

http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectr.../c2d_index.htm

PS: Don't work for Vectric. Just a happy user etc.

Similar Threads:

• Vectric Cut2d output to Mach3
• Vectric VCarve Pro / Cut2D Toolpath Transform Operations
• Cut2D - Can It Do this?
• G CODE NOT WORKING ANYMORE from Vectric cut2d and 3d

[Tony Mac]

Thanks for the Announcement and poaitive appraisal Greg!

We have finally sorted out the new Cut2D web pages and the Free Trial version is now available to download along with Training Tutorials (more to follow) and documents.

Wes Spence (metalworkz on the forum) and his son Mike are using DolphinCAD and Cut2D to design and machine radio controlled models and the results off his SIEG SX3 CNC Mill running Mach3 are great!

Wes said - "Cut2D is very easy to use and the 3D toolpath preview provides an in-depth visualization of the machining process and the finished parts before running the machine.”

Many of his projects require multiple toolpaths and a typical example is the front bumper design that requires,

1) Drill 2ea. .114" Dia. mtg holes (Interpolated using .093" dia end mill)
2) Engraving (V bit engraving tool)
3) Mill 2ea. .25"Dia. radiused slots (.25"Dia. Ball nose end mill)
4) Mill the mtg. area to a thickness of .080" (.25" Dia. flat end mill)
5) Mill the outside profile of the part (.125" Dia. End mill)

Below are some photo's of parts Wes has recently machined while Beta Testing Cut2D.

Tony

[Tony Mac]

Jeff Arnett is the owner of Wood Time Inc and he's been using Cut2D to cut parts
for clocks on his Home built CNC router. He's been getting great results from the
software and below are some pictures of his work.

Jeff commented, "I run a home made CNC machine and have demo’d many CAM
programs but never found one that was as functional and affordable as Cut2D!"

"Cut2D is very simple to use, amazingly fast at calculating toolpaths for even my
most complex parts and the CNC toolpath files run perfectly on my machine. I was
able to import DXF files, toolpath them, post to Mach3 and cut them with confidence
on my CNC machine."

"The bottom line is Cut2D has all the functionality I need at a price I can afford and
gets the job done perfectly!


Tony

[cncadmin]

Very nice, I'm downloading right now.

[sawmiller]

i downloaded cut2d, and it looks nice, I'm going to cut a few samples out to test it when i'm off work.
however, it's not having a way to do tabs without "designing the tabs in " using a cad program is a serious fault to me. i paid for lazycam pro ( $75) and its got its quirks, but it does have a simple TAB button. so its hard for me, personally , to pay twice as much for something that doesnt have the level of function as what i currently have.
granted, there are things that cut2D excells at when compared to lazycam, and if it had the tab feature I'd have already bought it, but until it does have what i consider a very nice feature ( no more parts flying around room from touching the bit when cut loose ) i'll keep the cash in the pocket.
after all, i'm just a hobbiest, and havent made any money back from my investment in the machine, mach3 or lazycam yet.

given lots of gifts thou and played with cnc. so far the fun of its worth it.
i just dont want to price myself out of the fun range.

dan

[Greolt]

I have to agree with Dan here.

Cut2D compares very favourably with Sheetcam and Lazycam which it shares a rough price comparison with.

Vectric's great strength is the user interface and general ease of use.

And as I see it the upgrade path to the very popular Vcarve Pro is a real bonus.

However for a program who's main focus is 2D profiling and pocketing the lack of tabs is a real shortcoming. Both Sheetcam and Lazycam have this.

I am confident Tony and the crew at Vectric will rectify this in the next update.

Once that is included, the price, ease of use and upgrade path, together will make this the perfect starting point for new comers to CNC.

Greg

[ger21]

I'll third that. I see a lot of people asking for tabs, and I had assumed that Cut 2D had them. It's unlikely that adding tabs will cut into V Carve Pro sales, but I think you'll lose sales by not having them, as Greg and Dan mentioned.

[rgoldner]

I agree. If Cut2D had tabs I would already have bought it. I currently use LazyCam because it does have tabs.

[sawmiller]

couldnt use the mach2/3 preprocessor, made crop circles like crazy...however the gcode inch one worked, was able to cut the cog,need to use a smaller bit than 1/8th for the teeth thou, they were just bumps, using the default toolpaths
dan

[ger21]

couldnt use the mach2/3 preprocessor, made crop circles like crazy...

Change your IJ mode in general config.

[Tony Mac]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for taking the time to review the Trial version of Cut2D.

The circles are caused by Mach3 being set to read G2 / G3 circular arc segments using Absolute Coordinates. The Vectric postp's are saving the toolpath code using Incremental Coordinates.

This is easily changed in Mach3 on the Config screen (thanks Gerry)

Let me know if you need any assistance with this.

Tony

[sawmiller]

excellent, works good now.

havent played around any with incremental modes, mostly because it makes a button flash "abnormal condition"
and if you dont know whats up, that tends to steer you away from it.
dan

[ger21]

If you click on the flashing button, it'll tell you what is different from your standard configuration.

[Khalid]

Hi Dan,


The circles are caused by Mach3 being set to read G2 / G3 circular arc segments using Absolute Coordinates. The Vectric postp's are saving the toolpath code using Incremental Coordinates.

This is easily changed in Mach3 on the Config screen (thanks Gerry)

Let me know if you need any assistance with this.

Tony

I use Mach3 with enabled the CONSTANT VELOCITY and ABSOLUTE MODE... now please tell me what to change in MACH-3 config state???? if vectric produce toolpath in incremental mode and i enabled the mach3 in Absolute ..what will happen to my circles???

[Tony Mac]

Hi Khalid,

I would guess that your Mach3 setup is fine and you shouldn't need to change anything. If your setup was wrong then toolpaths that include G2 / G3 moves would appear in the Mach Preview window as lots of large circles.

If the toolpath look correct when viewedd in Mach3 you don't need to change anything.

Tony

[Khalid]

Thank u Tony Mac for ur reply... i never tried G2/G3 in 2D toolpath.. what u will recommend whether i use G2/G3 or not to use G2/G3?...what is the impact of using G2/G3 in machine efficiency and quality of final product?..

Sorry for hijacking the thread. but i think it is the right place to post...

[Tony Mac]

If you use the Mach3 Arcs postp in VCarve Pro, this automatically writes circular arc G2 / G3 moves (where they are applicable) into the toolpath file.

You can test this by drawing a circle in VCarve Pro and calculating and saving a Profile toolpath.

Tony

[sawmiller]

hey tony,
on cut2D, specificly when i changed the outside toolpath to using a 1/16th inch bit, it wouldnt write the file.
says auto toolchange is not supported. but i do manual toolchange all the time on my router, how do i get it to write the file with a toolchange in it so mach will pause and i can change tool ?
other than manual edits , of course.
i'd think a warning that you have to change the tool yourself would be sufficent.
dan

[Tony Mac]

Hi Dan,

Cut2D only saves toolpaths that use the same cutter into a single file. For example, if you used a 1/16" End Mill to Pocket an region + Profile Grooves and Cut out the part, then all 3 toolpaths can be saved into a single file.

VCarve Pro provides the postprocessor support needed for jobs requiring Manual / Automatic Tool Changing - where multiple toolpaths are saved into a single file.

Tony

[Tony Mac]

Sorry for the delay in getting this issue sorted out.

Cut2D version 1.1 has been released and this now includes the option to add Tabs / Bridges to Profile Toolpaths. After releasing Cut2D at the beginning of March we have received feedback from users saying how important they felt Tabs were, so this functionality has been added in version 1.1.

Note - Existing customers wil lbe emailed the new version.

The Free Trial version of Cut2D has also been updated to allow the Tab feature to be tested using the evaluation files.

Cut2D customer Andrew Dale of Minimach Ltd has been testing the new version and machined the wing ribs shown on the Vectric Forum using the new Tab functionality.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Tony