What program(s) do you guys use?

[devo9er]

I'm in the process of building a small light duty hobby CNC laser diode machine and am looking for some good (basic) software to use. Any free stuff out there anyone knows about?

THX!!!

[bpoulin]

I don't know of ANY free software, I use lasercut 5.3. Most laser software is tied to it's control board. I know a lot of people use Mach 3 for home made lasers, but there is some issue about how fast the laser fires when comanded to.

[keebler303]

tweakie is a member here and has some experience with homebuilt laser stuff. Website: Tweakie.CNC - Low Power Lasers

Matt

[devo9er]

Thanks guys - Yeah I've been fooling around with Mach 3 and Lazy cam, It's what I mainly use for my wood router...I started playing around with the lazycam "plasma" but I can't find any documentation or manuals on it and its a little rough around the edges.

I'll see if I can get in touch with Tweakie. THX!

[Tweakie]

Hi Guys,

The free version of Mach3 only runs up to 500 lines of GCode which probably would not be enough for something like a .dxf profile and the same probably applies with using the impact / laser plugin. But don't let that stop you trying it.

The issue with speed of laser firing was resolved about 2 years ago and now there are no problems in that direction.

Tweakie.

[bpoulin]

Good to know, I didn't know they resolved the issue.