Software to transfer your gantry carriage plate design to vector

[MajorTendonitis]

Guys , not sure if this could work .
If you were to design a scratch built router table and temporarily use 3/4" MDF as your side plates of your own design for the sides of the gantry carriages , once it's up and running , I was hoping I could use the router table to cut out 3/4" aluminium plate that would replace these MDF side plates.

If this has been done , how do you transfer your design to vector in order to do the cuts and drilling to mimic the design of your temporary MDF plates?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I've posted in the wrong area . Mods ,feel free to move this if neccesary

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[ger21]

You design your MDF plates in a CAD program, so you have the design before you even start.

You can then print it out on paper, and use the paper templates to make your MDF plates.

I don't think anyone tries to duplicate their hand made temporary parts. They use the handmade parts to get the machine running, to make more precise parts.

[louieatienza]

Probably would be easier to design you plates in CAD now, use that to have full scale prints made that you can transfer to MDF... then you can use the same CAD to make the permanent parts.

[louieatienza]

You design your MDF plates in a CAD program, so you have the design before you even start.

You can then print it out on paper, and use the paper templates to make your MDF plates.

I don't think anyone tries to duplicate their hand made temporary parts. They use the handmade parts to get the machine running, to make more precise parts.

LOL you were a minute faster than me!

[MajorTendonitis]

Thanks guys , I wasn't sure how it was done . Which cad program would anyone recommend? I'm a photoshop guy , but have worked with vectors for my laser engraver , but never actually made one other than circles and squares and fonts on laser cut software

[louieatienza]

Thanks guys , I wasn't sure how it was done . Which cad program would anyone recommend? I'm a photoshop guy , but have worked with vectors for my laser engraver , but never actually made one other than circles and squares and fonts on laser cut software

What you intend to cut on your machine would determine what CAD/CAM you may need...

[MajorTendonitis]

What you intend to cut on your machine would determine what CAD/CAM you may need...

In the future I was going to get vectric/aspire . But in the mean time

[ger21]

Draftsight, or Sketchup?

[MajorTendonitis]

Draftsight, or Sketchup?

I've dabbled with googles Sketchup . Didn't know it would do vectors though . I better practice

[ger21]

Sketchup wouldn't be my choice, because it doesn't support arcs or circles. Many people use it, though.

[MajorTendonitis]

U

Sketchup wouldn't be my choice, because it doesn't support arcs or circles. Many people use it, though.

Well Sketchup doesn't sound great for this task .
My first ideas was going to be to remove the carriages MDF sides once I proved it worked, and then use them for a template to cut the 3/4" plate aluminum on my router table .
It may not be feasible , but I was going to cut and grind as close to the edges of the template as I could get , leaving a minimum amount of material to remove , then finish it off with a 1/2" flush bit on my router table as someone sprays the bit with WD-40.

I'm sure my idea would be a cake walk with 1/4" , but never played with 3/4" aluminum yet

[louieatienza]

U

Well Sketchup doesn't sound great for this task .
My first ideas was going to be to remove the carriages MDF sides once I proved it worked, and then use them for a template to cut the 3/4" plate aluminum on my router table .
It may not be feasible , but I was going to cut and grind as close to the edges of the template as I could get , leaving a minimum amount of material to remove , then finish it off with a 1/2" flush bit on my router table as someone sprays the bit with WD-40.

I'm sure my idea would be a cake walk with 1/4" , but never played with 3/4" aluminum yet

You're drawing two gantry plates. Not a lot of circles or arcs in the profile. You can just draw points for holes where your CNC can spot-drill, and you thenn take to a drill press afterwards.

I believe SketchUp does export circles and arcs. But not in the free version.

[1Jumper10]

Fusion 360. Its free for hobbyist. Lots of tutorials on YouTube to help you learn how to use it. I find the basic 2D aspects pretty easy to learn and I designed a basic adapter plate that was just some hole patterns and rectangles. I imagine it was similar to what you want to draw. Draw you part then save it in DXF format and you can use a different CAM program if you want.

Its a very comprehensive design -CAM program. I cant believe they offer a free license.

[louieatienza]

If the part is relatively simple, why not hand-code it? A sheet of graph paper and an hour of your time...

[Biggs427]

Fusion 360. Its free for hobbyist. Lots of tutorials on YouTube to help you learn how to use it. I find the basic 2D aspects pretty easy to learn and I designed a basic adapter plate that was just some hole patterns and rectangles. I imagine it was similar to what you want to draw. Draw you part then save it in DXF format and you can use a different CAM program if you want.

Its a very comprehensive design -CAM program. I cant believe they offer a free license.

+1

I've worked with Sketchup, DraftSight, SolidWorks, F360, Autocad and the most complete package is F360.

You got 2D, 3D, CAM in the same program which is good.

The 2D is not as good as what DraftSight could do, but the learning curve, at least to me, was steeper with DraftSight.

The 3D module is more complete in SolidWorks, but the price is prohibitive and the features offered by F360 are more than enough for any hobbyist.

As for the CAM package, to me, it is the best solution (especially for the price lol). You can do pretty cool stuff with it.

The idea of doing the code by hand is also a very good one for simple design.

[routalot]

I occasionally look at forums where the Autodesk business model is not viewed favourably in case they suddenly switch to a subscription service and make your CAD work inaccessible unless you pay up.It may never happen but.... You could generate a shape using Inkscape and export a .dxf version as most CAM programs will cope with these and there are a few free downloads such as dxf2cnc which will generate G-code for your machine,but you may want to run the outline cut at several depths if you machine is doubtful for cutting in one go.There is also the option of downloading Draft Sight which is free and a clone of Autocad LT or if you can deal with the challenge,you might try Freecad which will allow you to design and then generate G-code for your machine.Be warned,it is not easy to comprehend,but it is hugely powerful-and free.

[ger21]

I occasionally look at forums where the Autodesk business model is not viewed favourably in case they suddenly switch to a subscription service and make your CAD work inaccessible unless you pay up

All Autodesk software is now subscription based. It also allows you to save your work on your own PC. I believe that Fusion 360 is the only one that saves to the cloud, but it also allows you to back up your models to your own PC, in a variety of formats.

[louieatienza]

I occasionally look at forums where the Autodesk business model is not viewed favourably in case they suddenly switch to a subscription service and make your CAD work inaccessible unless you pay up.It may never happen but.... You could generate a shape using Inkscape and export a .dxf version as most CAM programs will cope with these and there are a few free downloads such as dxf2cnc which will generate G-code for your machine,but you may want to run the outline cut at several depths if you machine is doubtful for cutting in one go.There is also the option of downloading Draft Sight which is free and a clone of Autocad LT or if you can deal with the challenge,you might try Freecad which will allow you to design and then generate G-code for your machine.Be warned,it is not easy to comprehend,but it is hugely powerful-and free.

Not many things in this world absolutely free (except maybe some elevator and escalator rides) and I never really got a chance to read the EULA in its entirety. That said, I tend to stay away from any cloud-based or subscription-based software, but that's just me.