Newbie- some questions about gerber & gcode

[michaeljun]

HI, dear all.
new in cnczone and also emc2, I have got emc2 2.25 running with ubuntu 8.04 on my PC since last week. It does work well while testing the attached example.

I planned on milling PCBs, and so far I think there would be two step I should do before the milling. first, to create gerber file from PCB, every PCB designing software could do it. second, to create code which could mill with.

I was programming these two months in order to convert gerber to code that my terminals could read and drive the stepper motor, but it turn up a complex job and would take a long time to finish it. so I download emc2 and a software for free (URL:http://sourceforge.net/projects/gerbertogcode/) to deal with it. It also works well with the attached example, but strangely with my gerbers, which I dont understand.

Could anyone tell me what program your running to convert gerber to g-code? I found Eagle is able to create PCB, generate gerber and g-code, suitable but expensive. Is there any other software could deal with it, and hopefully for free?

many thanks. and I will be back tomorrow morning.

[acondit]

Michael,

I am using pcb-gcode to convert from Eagle gerbers to gcode and running the gcode under EMC2.
You can get pcb-gcode here.

I am running both Eagle and pcb-gcode on my Mac, others are running it on windows and it may be available for linux as well.

There is a pcb milling forum here on the zone also.

Alan

[michaeljun]

Alan
thanks for your reply, I would work on it and come back with something new.

[michaeljun]

after reading tons of data these date, I got some answers to my questions.

first, I could get eagle light edition to design my PCBs and also create the g-code without any cost. ( I have not downloaded it yet ). and then optimize the g-code if necessary with gcode optimizer by Daniel P and Jay C.

second, I could get CamBam to view or modified the path. and connect emc2 with my machine thru parallel port. do some configuration, then the milling will be done!

does that make any sense? I would try to start working as soon as the download's finished.

michael

[acondit]

Originally Posted by michaeljun first, I could get eagle light edition to design my PCBs and also create the g-code without any cost. ( I have not downloaded it yet ). and then optimize the g-code if necessary with gcode optimizer by Daniel P and Jay C. second, I could get CamBam to view or modified the path. and connect emc2 with my machine thru parallel port. do some configuration, then the milling will be done! does that make any sense? I would try to start working as soon as the download's finished. michael

Michael,

It sounds like you got the basic idea.

Alan

[michaeljun]

Alan

am I right? ok, that means I am in the right direction. thanks for reminding me, I would go on working and come back with something new.

michael