2D CAD/CAM software

[dre101]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for CAD/CAM software for designing and making watch dials using a Taig mill. I'm assuming I'm best off with 2D software at this stage.

Anyone have any ideas on 2D software which is easy to use/learn and relatively cheap (or free)?

[ger21]

Try SolidEdge 2D CAm for free
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.co...2d/index.shtml

Easiest to use 2D CAM would be Vectrics Cut2D. www.vectric.com

Lots of free CAM available too. Check out CAMBAM and GSimple.

[Master_CNC]

Hi CNC Community,

I believe you can easily grasp EZ-CAM www.ezcam.com with no training at all--2D should be that simple and yet powerful.

[harley4ever]

Try dolphin cad cam. It's a very nice all around software packge for 2d / 2.5d.

[analogman]

I know this post is a little old, but I wanted to add to this my evaluation of a few pieces of software.

CNC is not my main line of business, it is only a tool in the shop for manufacturing. It might see about 4-6hrs of use per week. So we needed inexpensive CAM software that would be easy to use and easy to return to after a few weeks of not using it.

We evaluated Cut2D, SheetCAM and CamBam. Cut2D was by far the easiest to use. Was very easy to set up tooling and easy to get it to do what we wanted (engraving, PCB cutouts, cutting sheet aluminum). The support was good via the forum, typically same day or overnight response.
It has some easy to learn video tutorials. Tabs were dead simple.

Although CamBam and SheetCam have more features, they were just too awkward to use for part time users. It took longer to set up tooling, longer to place tabs. We needed to have cheat sheets to remember how to do common functions.

FWIW.

[harley4ever]

I have looked at Cut2D as well. I spent about 2 weeks eval the product. While it does have some nice features, I still liked what dolphin provided a bit more. In any case though, the demos are there and the individual looking should best decide to his specific needs.

[Dan Falck]

http://code.google.com/p/heekscad/
http://code.google.com/p/heekscnc/

I'm using it in Linux, but there are windows *exe files to download (look at the right side of the screen in the 'Featured Downloads'.

It's free and open source software. I have used it for a few milling and engraving projects and it works well.

Dan